Louisiana Baptist evangelist Jerry Chaddick of Lake Charles has announced plans to be nominated for state convention president in November. Louisiana Baptist evangelist Jerry Chaddick of Lake Charles has announced plans to be nominated for state convention president in November. “After being asked by several pastors from around the state to allow my name to be placed in nomination for the office of president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and after receiving endorsement and promise of support from the Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship and after prayerful consideration, I have agreed to offer myself as a candidate for that position,” Chaddick said. Louisiana Inerrancy Fellowship Chair Leon Hyatt of Pineville confirmed that Chaddick has received unanimous support for the presidency from the group. Chaddick is the first announced nominee for the state convention post, which is open this year. Philip Robertson of Deville is serving his second term as convention president and is ineligible for re-election. A native of DeRidder, Chaddick previously served as pastor of churches in Louisiana and Mississippi. He entered full-time evangelism in February 2004. In announcing plans to allow his … [Read more...]

Anyone who does not think the church faces incredible challenges has not been reading current books and literature on the subject. Anyone who does not think the church faces incredible challenges has not been reading current books and literature on the subject. Actually, one can be deeply challenged – if not frightened – by current trends addressed by excellent literature. An excellent book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church” by Reggie McNeal contemplates the challenges our society presents the church. McNeal is consultant and church leadership developer for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. In his brief (148 pages) volume, he presents six “New Realities.” Each of these “realities” presents the church with significant challenges, any one of which can cause a church to rethink the way it goes about being church. Readers may not agree with all his premises or the way he believes a church should go about meeting them, but he will stop the reader dead in his/her tracks considering them. Along with this provocative book are the results of Lifeway’s recent survey of ministers. The survey included 1,300 ministers in North America and Europe. The study presented subjects with 3,700 … [Read more...]

Louisiana Baptist Message trustees have been asked to consider moving the newspaper back under state Executive Board structure and authority. Louisiana Baptist Message trustees have been asked to consider moving the newspaper back under state Executive Board structure and authority. Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director David Hankins presented the proposal to newspaper trustees during a called meeting last week in Alexandria. Baptist Message trustees had called the meeting primarily to hear recommendations from Hankins concerning “possible methods and structures for better cooperation and stewardship” between the convention and the newspaper. During the two-hour session, Hankins presented an idea that would eliminate the Baptist Message board and place the newspaper back within the Executive Board fold. The Baptist Message originally operated within the Executive Board structure until it was authorized as a separate denominational agency in 1963. Hankins proposed returning to those days by designing a new communications division for the state convention. The division would provide “a uniform, conprehensive, coordinated, intentional, efficient and effective communication plan for the … [Read more...]

As if in a desperate attempt to prove that enough never is enough, Louisiana could be witnessing still more expansion of legalized gambling in the state. As if in a desperate attempt to prove that enough never is enough, Louisiana could be witnessing still more expansion of legalized gambling in the state. The Jena Band of Choctaws has targeted a small Central Louisiana community as a site to open a new casino – and there may be little the state can do to stop it. The Jena tribe has been seeking land to open a casino for years. Efforts failed in Mississippi – and attempts in Louisiana have fallen through as well. In 2002, the tribe had an agreement signed with the state. But that “compact” was rejected by the federal government, partly because the proposed site was too far from the tribe’s ancestral homeland. Now, the tribe has a site near its homeland – the small community of Creola in Grant Parish in Central Louisiana. It is an unlikely site. In 2001, a Jena Band of Choctaws leader even said the tribe never would open a casino in the parish. After all, its residents outlawed video poker in 1996 – and sale of alcohol is banned in most of the parish as well. However, that was before the tribe … [Read more...]

Prepare for action – Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch said he is beginning to see the makings of “something extraordinary” in the denomination. Prepare for action – Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch said he is beginning to see the makings of “something extraordinary” in the denomination. The current Everyone Can Kingdom Challenge for Evangelism “is getting the same touch, the same feel about it” of a great revival, Welch said during a recent address to a group of Tennessee Baptist church planters. Welch launched the Everyone Can campaign last year via a nationwide bus tour, traversing the country and urging Southern Baptists to “Win ... Witness … & Baptize 1 MILLION” people from Oct. 1, 2005 to Oct. 1, 2006. He currently is continuing his effort by focusing on the upcoming Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Nashville, Tenn., set for June 21-22. Welch even has temporarily relocated to Nashville in order to help lay the groundwork for his emphasis. There, he is employing the same approach he used in his nationwide bus tour, during which he spoke in various locations and engaged in one-on-one witnessing. This time, Welch is focusing his evangelistic effort on an … [Read more...]

Dwayne Rogers says the recent Louisiana Baptist disaster relief missions trip to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, was a miracle in more ways than one. Dwayne Rogers says the recent Louisiana Baptist disaster relief missions trip to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, was a miracle in more ways than one. For three years prior to Dec. 26, 2004, foreign travel to Banda Aceh had been restricted, Southern Baptist International Mission Board officials report. However, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the city that day – killing more than 70,000 there – missions personnel were allowed into Banda Aceh (pronounced bän’dä ä’chā). “When the wheels of our plane touched down in Banda Aceh, I turned to (trip administrator) Curt Iles and said it was a miracle we were invited to a place that was closed to Christians for so long,” explains Rogers, pastor at Sandy Creek Baptist Church in Pride. “It also was a miracle how the Lord took people from all parts of this state with different abilities and used them for his glory.” Rogers and eight other Louisiana Baptists were members of a medical team that ministered March 12-25 in an area that was considered a tropical paradise before the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami devastated Banda … [Read more...]

Five days after a major earthquake rocked Nias, Indonesia, Singaporean relief workers recovered a survivor from the rubble in the capital, Gunung Sitoli. Five days after a major earthquake rocked Nias, Indonesia, Singaporean relief workers recovered a survivor from the rubble in the capital, Gunung Sitoli. They were using tools provided by Southern Baptists. Generous giving is allowing Southern Baptists to minister on Nias with effective rescue and recovery tools, a Southern Baptist worker in Gunung Sitoli reported. He recently spoke of the rescued survivor and other recent developments by telephone. More than a week after the earthquake, Southern Baptist and Indonesian workers were in Gunung Sitoli, removing bodies from the rubble and setting up a program to distribute much-needed food to outlying areas. Southern Baptists have provided one ton of food to be distributed through four churches outside Gunung Sitoli. “The people were very grateful,” the worker said. “We’re developing a good name in the areas we’re serving.” Workers recovered a boy’s body from one crumbled house. As they exited the house, the boy’s family expressed appreciation. “No one else has come to help us,” they said. “Thank … [Read more...]

Week of April 18, 2005 LC commencement Louisiana College has set its annual commencement ceremony for May 14 on the Pineville campus. About 200 graduates from the Louisiana Baptist school will be honored during the ceremony. The scheduled speaker is W.E. Thorn, president emeritus of Dallas Baptist University in Dallas. The ceremony is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. in Guinn Auditorium. For details, call (318) 487-7401. Louisiana challenge The American Civil Liberties Union has charged that the Louisiana Governor’s Program on Abstinence is continuing to promote religion in defiance of a court order issued three years ago. The program once was cited for giving grants to groups that used them to deliver religious messages. Now, the ACLU says religious materials is being presented on the program’s Web site. ACLU attorneys have asked that the state be held in contempt of court for defying the order of three years ago. They say the abstinence program’s Web site includes experts, articles and skits that unconstitutionally mix religion with the abstinence message. For instance, some materials state that “God’s plan is not for us to be alone” or urge youth who have sex to repent and seek “forgiveness through Jesus.” … [Read more...]

The 1948 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls proved to be the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. But more than 50 years after their discovery, many questions remain as to who wrote them and who actually lived at the Dead Sea community of Qumran where they were discovered. The 1948 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls proved to be the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. But more than 50 years after their discovery, many questions remain as to who wrote them and who actually lived at the Dead Sea community of Qumran where they were discovered. Thus far, archaeologists have excavated about 250 caves and crevices on the western side of the Dead Sea, said Steven Ortiz, associate professor of biblical archaeology and director of the Center for Archaeological Research at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Ortiz spoke about the scrolls and their significance as part of the Gulf Coast Exploreum’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and lecture series in Mobile, Ala. The exhibit is set to end April 24. In his lecture, Ortiz noted that after the 1948 discovery, archaeologists quickly looked to Qumran, with Father De Vaux and G.L. Harding beginning an excavation at the mysterious community … [Read more...]

So, how does one know when one is either too old to work out at a public gym or should go so early that no one else is there? So, how does one know when one is either too old to work out at a public gym or should go so early that no one else is there? I can answer that; being one of them, I am qualified. I can give you the top 10 reasons how you know. 10. All the other men working out sport tight tank-tops to show their physiques, but you keep buying and wearing looser-fitting, black clothing to hide yours. 9. You must have help getting on the treadmill. 8. You spend your time taking weights off the equipment for your repetitions while everyone else puts weights on for theirs. 7. You are greeted each morning with – “Hiya, pops. So, you made it another day.” 6. You cannot believe, when you see your reflection in one of those horrible mirrors that cover the walls, that is not a king-sized pillow under your shirt. 5. Your favorite part of going to the gym is ordering a smoothie with a shot of caffeine. 4. You discover that once you lie down to do stomach crunches, you take a nap first. 3. You argue with the 12-year-old about who got to the five-pound free-weights first – and you lose. 2. You … [Read more...]