Potpourri LAKE CHARLES – Gillis First church:  “Dear Diary” production presented by The Jeremiah People, a nationally known musical theater ministry; 7 p.m. Oct. 6; free admission, love offering accepted; Glenn George, pastor. COLUMBIA (Hebert) – Welcome Home church:  Wild Horse Ministries, featuring Paul Daily, to perform Oct. 18, 6 p.m.; musical guest, Suzy Gayle, at 5 p.m.; bring your lawn chairs; for information, call Greg Floyes at 318-248-3922; Bill Gueringer, pastor. BOGALUSA – Superior Avenue church:  Perry Hancock, guest speaker; Oct. 8, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; Clay Norris, pastor. ALEXANDRIA – Home-wood church:  “Financial Peace University” program; Oct. 17, 7 p.m.; presented by David Ramsey; $90 per family; program will be once a week for 13 weeks; to register, call 318-445-3915 between 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Jimmy Koonce, pastor. MONROE – North Mon-roe church:  Gospel concert featuring Testify, The New Liberty Quartet, The Liberty Boys Quartet, Julie McIntyre and Amanda Carter; Oct. 7, 6 p.m.; tickets available at the door; Bill H. Dye, pastor. MONROE – Memorial church:  One day Bible conference; Oct. 21, 4:30 p.m.; Jerry Price, Robert Spicer and Lyndon Longoria, … [Read more...]

Two amendments have been proposed to the Articles of Incorporation of Louisiana College. Following are two proposed amendments to the Articles of Incorporation of Louisiana College, as passed in late September at their regularly-scheduled meeting by the college’s board of trustees. First: Amend the Articles of incorporation of Louisiana College by striking out the entirety of the current Article V (Liquidation), which reads ARTICLE V: LIQUIDATION The corporation is formed exclusively for educational and religious purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of or be distributable to the trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments or distributions in furtherance of its educational and religious purposes. The assets of the corporation shall be dedicated to the educational and religious purposes of the corporation. Upon dissolution of the corporation, the assets shall be distributed to the Louisiana Baptist Convention or to the designee of the … [Read more...]

In an all-out effort to share the Gospel of Christ with metro San Diego's 3 million residents, the North American Mission Board's initiative will bring attention, volunteers and resources to the effort. ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – The North American Mission Board has named San Diego as the next Strategic Focus City – an initiative that will bring additional Southern Baptist attention, volunteers and resources in an all-out effort to share the Gospel of Christ with metro San Diego’s 3 million residents. NAMB’s Strategic Focus Cities (SFC) is a six-year-old strategy for leveraging the resources of the Southern Baptist Convention’s 16.3 million members and 43,000-plus churches to win America’s top 11 metropolitan areas for Christ. Fermín A. Whittaker, executive director for the California Southern Baptist Convention, said Baptists there are excited about partnering with NAMB to reach the lost and make disciples in the Golden State. “With at least 33 million unchurched Californians, we must do everything possible to tell every man, woman, boy and girl about Jesus and His saving grace. This is one more way to help California Southern Baptists’ culturally diverse congregations be on mission and be … [Read more...]

Page, Southern Baptist Convention president, said he woud spend his time in that role calling on Souther Baptists to pray for revival within he denomination.   … [Read more...]

A "perfect storm" of financial helps for people drowning in debt has been unleashed in recent days by the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Convention and B&H Publishers. ALEXANDRIA— A “perfect storm” of financial helps for people drowning in debt has been unleashed in recent days by the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Convention and B&H Publishers. • Louisiana Baptist Convention begins promotion this month of Financial Peace University’s small group studies on personal finance. Financial Peace University was founded in 1988 by Dave Ramsey, a Christian and personal finance adviser with a national following. • This follows the Southern Baptist Convention’s recent announcement of a “National Stewardship Initiative” for regional conferences in partnership with Crown Financial Ministries – CFM is an outgrowth of a merger in 2000 with Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts and Howard Dayton’s Crown Ministries. • And in late August, B&H Publishers released Making Change: A transformational guide to Christian money management, written by EKG strategist Ken Hemphill at the request of Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee. LBC and the … [Read more...]

Fifteen people from three churches were baptized in Lake Buhlow, near Alexandria, Sunday evening, Sept. 4, in the second North Rapides Associational baptism rally this year. PINEVILLE – Fifteen people from three churches were baptized in Lake Buhlow, near Alexandria, Sunday evening, Sept. 4, in the second North Rapides Baptist Associational baptism rally this year. Ten were baptized last spring. “Welcome to His baptistry,” said Steve Speer, founding pastor of His Church, a contemporary congregation in Pineville not quite three months old. Speer’s words took on a double meaning as about 350 people contemplated the serene lake behind the pastor that was rimmed with tall green pine trees and covered with a semi-sunny sky, which later turned into a golden sunset. It was a perfect fall evening in central Louisiana – no humidity, gentle breeze, just enough scattered cloud cover to shade the sun. The event came to be as much a time of worshipping God in the world He created, as it was a celebration of the baptismal candidates’ decisions to follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior, said Kevin Roberts, event organizer. “I realized I wasn’t living right,” said Jason Pruitt, 28, an offshore worker and member … [Read more...]

"We have all learned something every lesson that has been worth the price for the class," said Clark Palmer, pastor of Faith Bapitst here, abut Financial Peace University. TIOGA – “We have all learned something every lesson that has been worth the price of the class,” said Clark Palmer, pastor of Faith Baptist here, about Financial Peace University. Faith Tioga members are in week 8 of the 13-week study. “There’s not been a dull session; there’s not been an irrelevant session,” Palmer said. “Maintaining attendance at the class has not been a problem – pastors will know what I mean by that. Nobody misses unless they have to.” Palmer, looking for a new and interesting discipleship type of Sunday evening study, stumbled across the Financial Peace University materials on what he understood was the final day of a sale, the pastor said. With the purchase of 10 student books for $90 each, the leader’s kit that included a set of DVDs was free. The DVDs include one session a week, varying in length from 50 to 75 minutes; class discussion is to follow. “Each student kit also contains a set of CDs that are audio recordings of every session,” Palmer said. “I think that’s invaluable because you get … [Read more...]

A business man complained about a proposal to raise the pastor's salary. He explained that he did not feel the increase was justified. "After all," the man quipped, "he only works two days a week." A businessman complained about a proposal to raise the pastor’s salary. He explained that he did not feel the increase was justified. “After all,” the man quipped, “he only works two days a week.” The pastor did not rebut the businessman’s remark, but after the meeting invited the man to come and spend the next afternoon with him. The man agreed. When the man arrived at about noon, the pastor explained that his morning had been spent in prayer, a staff meeting and then a couple of hours of study. He asked the businessman to wait while he returned a few phone calls. Forty-five minutes later, the pastor emerged and the man asked, “What took so long?” The pastor waved a stack of phone messages he had received in the morning. “Who are those from?” the businessman queried. “Church members,” the pastor replied. “Let’s go,” the pastor said. The pair climbed into the pastor’s car. “Where are we going?” the businessman asked. “To the hospital,” the preacher said. After finding a place to … [Read more...]

A reader calls for messengers to reject the amendment to the By-laws of Louisiana College to add an additional member to the Board of Trustees. As a member of the First Baptist Church of Mansfield, I would call on the messengers to the 2006 Louisiana Baptist Convention to reject the amendment to the By-laws of Louisiana College to add an additional member to the Board of Trustees. As reported in the Baptist Message, the Board adopted a resolution to add the Executive Director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention as a voting member of the Board. I submit that this is bad policy for two reasons. The first is lack of accountability since this would add to the 34-member board a member who is not elected by the messengers of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. The Executive Director is employed by the Executive Committee of the convention and is not elected by the messengers. This would be new  ground to have a voting member who is appointed by an outside agency. This move would also add a new level of trustee in that the Executive Director would serve for the full tenure of his employment while all other trustees would have limited terms. The President of the Louisiana Baptist Convention serves … [Read more...]

Louisiana College has taken a strong and bold stand as we daily express our identity in terms of recognizing and affirming the foundational principles. upon which we were founded. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:11 NIV Over the last couple of years, and in anticipation of the celebration of 100 years of Christian higher education, Louisiana College has taken a strong and bold stand as we daily express our identity in terms of recognizing and affirming the foundational principles upon which we were founded.  Our founding fathers established an institution of higher education that would stand the test of time that would reflect the principles upon which our Christian identity and Baptist heritage would grow and prosper.  Their wisdom and faith called for an institution that acknowledges that true scholarship can only be found within the context of Jesus Christ as central to all knowledge and learning. One of our newest faculty members, Jason Meyer, a tremendous scholar of New Testament and Greek, put it this way, “Christian scholarship compromises its distinctive calling and identity whenever it consciously or unconsciously … [Read more...]