Note: Churches listed in alphabetical order. Airline Baptist in Bossier City has seven Discipleship Unlimited classes Sunday afternoons that have proven so popular rooms had to be changed to accommodate the size of the classes. They include “Frazzled Female” and “Men’s Fraternity.” Members participate Monday evenings in GROW outreach, Moms’ Day Out, IRON Men, and in supporting the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission. Kids Night Out Oct.7 included a missionary from China. Chad Grayson is pastor. Baptist Temple in Alexandria heard John Hebert speak in Sunday school and church about the Cooperative Program Oct. 22, which the church designated as Cooperative Program Appreciation Day. Hebert is an LBC regional missions and ministries strategist. The church has both an Extreme Kids group and a BALL (Be Active Live Longer Club. The Patriarchs, a Beth Moore study, started Oct. 1. Bill Broadwater is pastor. Boulevard Baptist in Lake Charles plans a garage sale for youth ministries Nov. 11. This is important for everyone in the LBC to know about, since many people will be in Lake Charles that weekend for Crossover events preceding the LBC annual meeting. Come to Lake Charles to minister AND find garage … [Read more...]

It started as a simple invitation to church. Zula Montgomery saw Junior Hill, only 12 years old at the time, playing in a field near Hartselle, Ala. She invited him to come to church with her and God used the invitation in a mighty way. Editor’s note: Junior Hill is to be a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention Nov. 13-14 at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)– It started as a simple invitation to church. Zula Montgomery saw Junior Hill, only 12 years old at the time, playing in a field near Hartselle, Ala. She invited him to come to church with her and God used the invitation in a mighty way. Hill, whose parents were not believers, began attending church at First Baptist Church in Hartselle where Montgomery was a member. A few years later, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and in 1955 God called Hill to preach. Now in his 51st year of ministry, Hill has preached more than 1,500 revivals throughout the United States and across the world. Through the years, thousands of people have responded to his preaching by receiving Christ. For more than 11 years, with degrees from Howard College and New Orleans Baptist Theological … [Read more...]

“The best library conference in America” is set to take place here Nov. 3-4, says Joe McKeever, Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans (BAGNO). MARRERO – “The best library conference in America” is set to take place here Nov. 3-4, says Joe McKeever, Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans (BAGNO). “Hope Ferguson, the instigator/brains/organizer/spirit behind this event, has five conference leaders and 24 other volunteers from six states coming to lead this event,” McKeever said in a recent blog. The event, which kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, at First Baptist Church Marrero, is to educate and train attendees on beginning, maintaining, and/or re-starting a church library. In addition, the conference is intended to highlight how church libraries can be a thriving ministry for any church. “You do not have to be local; in fact, you do not even have to be Baptist,” to attend the event, McKeever said. “I’m doing everything I know how to convince our church leaders that now is the time and this is the place to either get your library jump started or to put new life and vision into your old library,” said Ferguson, a member … [Read more...]

Saved at 16 and married at 18 to a pastor, Maryjane Hawley has spent two-thirds of her life in ministry. RUSTON – Saved at 16 and married at 18 to a pastor, Maryjane Hawley has spent two-thirds of her life in ministry. Asked by another church leader to encourage Maryjane to follow through on her new commitment to the Lord, Michael Hawley, then a college student and youth worker, did so. “That’s how we started our relationship,” he said. “It was a friendship for about a year. Then we started dating. Then a year and a half after that, we were married.” In the early days of their 34-year marriage Maryjane was a mother who supported her pastor husband in the home and helped raise their two boys, Pastor Hawley said. When he went to New Orleans to pursue his master’s and doctorate degrees at seminary, she went to work as a receptionist for an orthodontist. Less than a week later, she became the patient coordinator. But ministry is where her heart lies, said Pastor Hawley, who now serves at Ruston’s Emmanuel Baptist Church. “Maryjane has always been the kind of person who has wanted to minister,” he said. One summer during their first pastorate, the two took off to a church … [Read more...]

Note: Please send in your Katrina-related stories – like this one – by Monday, Aug. 28 for inclusion in the special Katrina issue Aug. 31. Email to news@baptistmessage.com or fax to 318-445-8328. MONROE – During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home was flooded with dozens of telephone calls from caring people wanting to help with children who had been displaced to concerned and often desperate people seeking information about their family members- children who were in different group home and residential facilities in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. A pastor from Columbia called us regarding information about a particular child. His church was housing evacuees and one of the evacuees  was a gentleman whose granddaughter was in a group home in New Orleans. The pastor said that the man did not have any idea where his granddaughter was. We took down the name of the children’s home and the pastor’s telephone number. No one recognized the name of the home. Internet searches proved empty. Later that night, I was talking on the phone with my mother. She was telling me that a man that she works with was involved with his church in Baton Rouge helping … [Read more...]

The Marble Slab here will continue to offer Christian music with its trademarked “freshest ice cream on earth.” LEESVILLE – The Marble Slab here will continue to offer Christian music with its trademarked “freshest ice cream on earth.” The locally-owned franchise recently was told by its national headquarters that a woman had emailed them to complain. When she went into the Leesville Marble Slab, Christian music was playing and she was offended, she wrote, adding that she had found 64 people who agreed to boycott the store with her, protesting the playing of Christian music in a secular establishment. “Christian-based customers would not be offended to hear a light rock or classical station playing in your store,” suggested Alissa Church, Marble Slab franchise relations manager, in an email to David and Teresa McConathy, Leesville store owners and members at East Leesville Baptist Church. But David McConathy isn’t budging. “We will continue to play our Christian music,” he wrote in his emailed response to Church. “I don’t make people sit and listen nor do I preach when they enter the store. If we lose 64 customers because of the music, I am truly sorry; however I know that God will … [Read more...]

The Turning Hearts Tour, scheduled for Dec. 1-2 at Florida Blvd. Baptist Church here, focuses on the relationships between parents and their teenagers. BATON ROUGE – The Turning Hearts Tour, scheduled for Dec. 1-2 at Florida Blvd. Baptist Church here, focuses on the relationships between parents and their teenagers. Specifically, “turning the hearts of parents and teenagers toward each other through powerful worship, straightforward teaching, and family experiences to build kingdom families and bring glory to God,” the tour’s website said (www.turningheartstour.com). “We have women’s events that are just incredible,” said Paul Radosevich, coordinator for the tour and Minister of Education at Florida Blvd. “And we have men’s events and youth events that are all incredible, but we don’t have something where the family comes together for a spiritual encounter.” “We look really good when we go to church, but when we go back home, life goes back to the world,” he said. “What we want is for parents to be teaching [their] kids spiritually. It’s not the church’s job; it’s the parents’ job.” “[The church] can’t affect change in people’s lives in three hours a week,” said Radosevich, a former … [Read more...]

“There are five ways messengers can be certified to vote at this year’s annual convention” Nov. 13-14 at Trinity Baptist Lake Charles, said Marcell McGee, LBC Credentials Committee Chairman. ALEXANDRIA – “There are five ways messengers can be certified to vote at this year’s annual convention” Nov. 13-14 at Trinity Baptist Lake Charles, said Marcell McGee, LBC Credentials Committee Chairman. Elected messengers can choose one of the following options, McGee said. First and best, messengers can pre-register using the new online system, print out their registration cards, and bring them to the annual meeting. By pre-registering, messengers can be certified within a matter of minutes, McGee said. Second, if messengers have not pre-registered, bringing a letter from their church on church letterhead stating that they are elected messengers will allow them to register and be certified to vote. Third, a church officer can phone in the names of the elected messengers. Two more: verification by a fellow church member; meeting of the credentials committee. Without properly registering, messengers cannot vote at the annual meeting, McGee said.   … [Read more...]

The sins of America are many. Among the most blatant are: an insistence on the right to kill pre-born humans, the protection of pornography and the acceptance by many that perversion is normal and healthy. While these and other moral failings are signs the United States is far from healthy, a more subtle sign could be just as telling. The sins of America are many. Among the most blatant are: an insistence on the right to kill pre-born humans, the protection of pornography and the acceptance by many that perversion is normal and healthy. While these and other moral failings are signs the United States is far from healthy, a more subtle sign could be just as telling. In his book When Nations Die, historian Jim Nelson Black cites 10 warning signs of a culture in crisis. Among the trends that indicate a society has stopped making history and is in the process of becoming history is “the loss of respect for tradition.” Tradition links generations together by calling attention to significant events and people. It is a form of remembering. Tradition commemorates not only the past, but also how the past impacts the present. Tradition is one generation passing the baton of history to the next. When … [Read more...]

The population of the United States soared past 300 million in October, with no signs of declining anytime soon. RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – The population of the United States soared past 300 million in October, with no signs of declining anytime soon. Only two other countries contain more than 300 million people: China and India, with more than 1 billion each. Like those two giants – and unlike most of Europe and other “developed” countries – the U.S. population continues to climb. Our young nation took nearly a century and a half (until 1915) to reach a population of 100 million. It had doubled a little over a half-century later, in 1967. The 300-million mark was reached less than 40 years after that, and demographers project we will hit 400 million by 2043. Natural increase (more births than deaths) explains much of the annual growth in population, according to the Population Reference Bureau. But immigrants account for about 40 percent of the growth. Foreign-born people in the United States now number more than 35 million, ranging from unskilled laborers to highly skilled professionals and international entrepreneurs. Non-Hispanic whites account for just over half of the population … [Read more...]