MONROE—The annual Fall Food Roundup for the Lousiana Baptist Children’s Home started on Monday, Sept. 18 and is scheduled to continue through Oct. 17. MONROE—The annual Fall Food Roundup for the Lousiana Baptist Children’s Home started on Monday, Sept. 18 and is scheduled to continue through Oct. 17. “Cottage dads take trucks across the state to collect food at churches,” said Julie Cupples, Communications Director at the LBCH. “We used to go in a train and pick it up,” said Darrell Washam, Director of Development and Public Relations.  Back then, people gave chickens, ducks, and all kinds of food. “Nowadays its canned food,” he said, along with other non-perishables.  “The food we pick up will supply us for almost the entire year.” While most churches give food, some give money, which the home uses to buy perishables and to re-stock on other items as they run low. Churches do unique things to gather food for the roundup.  Some churches choose one item, for example sugar, and then everyone at the church will bring that item. Some churches have contests between boys and girls in the youth department to see who can bring the most food or have scavenger hunts, while other churches give out paper … [Read more...]

The passion of my heart as president of this great convention has been to see us experience a year of Jubilee. By Bill Robertson President, Louisiana Baptist Convention The passion of my heart as president of this great convention has been to see us experience a year of Jubilee. In the book of Leviticus, every 50 years was to be declared a year of Jubilee. To begin the year, a ram’s horn was sounded to signal the release of every slave from indebtedness. The past was forgiven and everyone had a new beginning. My prayer for Louisiana Baptists is that we would experience a new beginning. A new beginning occurs when we forgive the past, embrace in the present and labor together for the future. To forgive means that I will not seek revenge for any wrong suffered. It means that I won’t bring it up to you or anyone else. I won’t even bring it up to myself. It is over and we will move on together for the glory of Christ alone. Why should we have a year of Jubilee? Why should I be willing to forgive and move forward? Paul gave several reasons in the book of Philemon. Paul reminded Philemon that he should forgive Onesimus because he owed Paul more than Onesimus owed him. In other … [Read more...]

Now, for the last part of this formula for success. One. Fifty-fifty. Eighty-twenty. Ten.  What do these numbers represent? No, it is not the signal for a football play.  It is a formula that can help Southern Baptists fulfill the mission our Lord gave us when he told us to be “witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In my last several articles, I have been outlining a process that has the potential for unleashing a flood of support for worldwide witness. Let’s review. One. We have asserted that we can accomplish more together than we can separately. That’s why Southern Baptists created the Cooperative Program, a common funding method that allows all our work to receive sufficient financial support from one regular monthly gift from all the churches. The CP continues to be the most effective, efficient, comprehensive mission-support mechanism we know. Fifty-fifty.  Louisiana Baptists are launching the CP Advance plan because we want to reach the goal of forwarding fully 50 percent of our Cooperative Program contributions to our national and worldwide Southern Baptist causes. We are committed to moving more and more resources into reaching the lost peoples of … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – A burgundy pickup loaded with food, cleaning supplies and bottled water lumbered through the Lower Ninth Ward in late January. NEW ORLEANS – A burgundy pickup loaded with food, cleaning supplies and bottled water lumbered through the Lower Ninth Ward in late January. A disaster relief volunteer from Denham Springs, La., and her partners from Benton, Ark., were on mission to meet the needs of whomever they might meet in that hurricane-devastated area. “Even if it was just a bottle of water, shared in Jesus’ name, we felt compelled to be there,” said Sandra Watson of Arkansas. “God had called us out of our comfort zone with one simple instruction: “Be my hands, my arms, my feet; minister in my name.” During their six-hour stint spent in the Lower Ninth Ward that January day, the DR team saw unimaginable destruction coupled with the brilliance of God at work. The Lower Ninth Ward looked every bit like a war zone: Homes were flattened, cars toppled. Some homes were sitting in the middle of what had once been the roadway; some homes were sitting on top of cars. A total sense of devastation had become evident: The heavy odor of mold, dust, wet wood and rot hung over the … [Read more...]

GUEYDAN – The warmth that emanates from Susan Owen doesn’t originate in the quilts she’s continually making. It starts with the relationship with God that led her to start Lagniappe Prayers and Squares Ministry earlier this year. GUEYDAN – The warmth that emanates from Susan Owen doesn’t originate in the quilts she’s continually making. It starts with the relationship with God that led her to start Lagniappe Prayers and Squares Ministry earlier this year. Already she and her ministry team have prayed over the 11 body-sized quilts that now warm the lives and hearts of their recipients. “God laid it on my heart that this would be an awesome way to reach out to others in the community, along with the help of fellow members here in this church,” Owen said, referring to First Baptist of Gueydan, where her husband Jesse has been pastor for six years. At the minister’s wives’ conference last year, she participated in a prayer quilt for a seminary professor’s wife. Owen checked out the website – www.prayerquilt.org – and saw the potential for a ministry that fit her crafty nature. “What separates a prayer quilt from other quilts is that from beginning to end it is made with prayer, intention … [Read more...]

Check it out! Potpourri SHREVEPORT – Emmanuel church:  8th Annual Women’s Conference; Oct. 14, 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Cindy Townsend, guest speaker; Judy Caplinger, praise/worship; $10 per person/includes lunch; for information or to register, call 318-686-7548; Bill Stowell, pastor. ZACHARY – First church:  Joe Aguillard, guest speaker; Oct. 1, 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; Reggie Bridges, pastor. COLFAX – Bethel church:  Freddie Arnold guest speaking on “Rebuilding New Orleans:   Baptist Missions in Action,” Sept. 24, 10:45 a.m. – noon; Robert Daniel, pastor. MONROE – Loch Arbor church:  The Dixie Echoes Gospel Quartet in concert; Sept. 24, 10:30 a.m. with potluck lunch to follow; to honor pastor’s anniversary; Andy Myrick, pastor. WILDSVILLE – Evangeline church:  Kingdom Bound in concert; Sept. 30, 7 p.m.; Dennis Baker, pastor. WEST MONROE – McClendon church:  Legacy Five in concert; Sept.30, 7 p.m.; $12 for ages 12 and up/$6 for ages 3-11; for ticket information, call 318-322-2782; Rick Crandall, pastor. BOSSIER CITY – Central church:  Leadership Conference; Oct. 1, 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Oct. 2-7, 7 p.m. nightly; Oct. 8, 10:45 a.m.; Jerry and Donna Williams, conference … [Read more...]

Check it out! OAKDALE – The recent  Incredible Love mother/daughter conference here was a huge success, reports Shane Wiggins, youth pastor at First Baptist Oakdale, which sponsored the sexual abstinence event. About 120 people participated in the day-long event, headlined by Marilyn Morris, founder of Aim For Success group, which focues on teen self-esteem and abstinence issues. Morris also spoke at the local middle school and high school, and one young woman was heard to say, “Where was she when I was in the fifth grade?” Morris has been invited back next year by the Allen Parish school board. NATCHITOCHES – The Outdoors Outreach program headlined by the Duck Commander Phil Robertson at Westside Baptist Sept. 7 was a huge success, reports Ken Lantz, a coordinator. About 425 outdoorsmen, women and children attended the event. “Following his address, 54 decision cards were turned in during the final prizes drawing,” Lance emailed. They included 16 professions of faith, 28 recommitments and 10 questions related to the person’s spiritual status. At the following Sunday service, two people made public their professions of faith, and seven people requested … [Read more...]

Designated as an official American Red Cross shelter, a handful of South Louisiana churches have specified Kingsville Baptist as one of their official shelters for members and attenders to evacuate in case another hurricane threatens their community this fall. BALL – This or any hurricane season many roads could lead to Kingsville Baptist Church for South Louisiana churches. Designated as an official American Red Cross shelter, a handful of South Louisiana churches have specified Kingsville Baptist as one of their official shelters for members and attenders to evacuate in case another hurricane threatens their community this fall. Kingsville could house up to 250 evacuees, said Walt Chance, Kingsville’s coordinator for disaster relief. In the event of a tropical storm or category one hurricane, Celebration Church in Metairie will offer evacuees use of its facility. Pastor Dennis Watson said most of his members live in FEMA trailers, which may not survive in the event of another such storm. Once on the Metairie campus, the evacuees will register onsite so the church knows who is seeking shelter there. But if a storm more powerful than a category one hurricane threatens to make … [Read more...]

NEW ORLEANS – Committed. That’s the term most people use to describe Gary and Marilyn Morrow. NEW ORLEANS – Committed. That’s the term most people use to describe Gary and Marilyn Morrow. The Morrows arrived at Calvary the week of Christmas 2005. Gary, as the “White Hat” for Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, came to check on his volunteers staffing the Missouri kitchen and shower units stationed at Calvary. Actually, Gary had been coordinating the work of the Missouri kitchen from his home since September 6 when he positioned the kitchen at First Baptist, McComb, Miss. “We were in McComb for three weeks and then closed the kitchen down. I just left it sitting in McComb because none of this area had been opened yet. I knew we would be moving down here,” Gary said. On or about September 14 the kitchen would find a long-term home at Calvary. Gary oversaw the ministry of the kitchen that functioned for 126 days and prepared 957,000 meals from the church parking lot. If that was not enough, Gary and Marilyn took on the tasks of tearing down the white house in Calvary’s back lot that sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina. Then they went to work spreading rock to create three … [Read more...]

When Jesus is present, there is always enough. That's what Jack and Joanne Robinson learned after Hurricane Rita demolished their town of Westlake. WESTLAKE – When Jesus is present, there is always enough. Perhaps the boy with the five loaves and two fishes whose lunch fed a crowd of more than 5,000 learned that lesson the same way Jack and Joanna Robinson did; their efforts fed about 30 volunteer disaster relief workers for two and a half weeks after Hurricane Rita. Jack Robinson, a member of an associational disaster relief chainsaw crew, had been home only two days from doing disaster relief work after Katrina when he and his wife had to evacuate as Hurricane Rita approached the southwest quadrant of the state. As the name implies Westlake is just west of Lake Charles; it was whipped by Rita’s eastern side as the storm moved inland.  Most people evacuated, but some, mostly emergency personnel and volunteers, stayed or came back soon after. The Robinsons, members at Bellview Baptist Westlake, returned home on Saturday to find Rita had laid waste to their hometown. Westlake was without electricity for two and a half weeks, but the Robinsons –  armed with a generator, a 38-foot motor … [Read more...]