For the week of November 4, 2004 Shipping will be actual USPS Ground cost, my shipping zip is 70769 NOTE: I have had people email me about a safety recall on the leveler. I had not received any info and was unaware of the recall until it was pointed out to me. For information on the recall: http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml04/04137.html. My apologies and it was not my intention to unload an unsafe product as someone emailed me. Bidders should be aware of this recall and understand that they are bidding on a product as is. I have also had people email me about why I am selling it. It adds too much weight to the stand and where I hunt the stand has to be packed in a good ways through swamp. Truthfully it was not worth the trouble. … [Read more...]

On Sept. 15, 1999, seven people were killed at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, by a gunman who then killed himself. This story shares some of the witness of faith that has emerged from those tragic events Note: On Sept. 15, 1999, seven people were killed at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, by a gunman who then killed himself. This story shares some of the witness of faith that has emerged from those tragic events.   One of Kathy Jo Rogers’ most vivid memories from the Wedgwood Baptist Church shootings begins nearly 24 hours earlier, when her husband of nearly two years, Shawn Brown, came home to their campus apartment at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as she was cooking supper.   "He said, ‘Kathy, I just need you to pray for me because I have so much to share that I don’t know where to start,’" Rogers recounts. "He was pacing the floor, ... wanting to know how he could even begin to tell what God had laid on his heart."   He was scheduled to speak to a youth group in West Texas in October and was preparing a message.   As they ate, Rogers agreed to pray for her husband, who revealed that he had felt moved to pray for her all that day. A … [Read more...]

The following persons are scheduled to be nominated to terms of service on various boards and committees during the upcoming Louisiana Baptist Convention. The following persons are scheduled to be nominated to terms of service on various boards and committees during the upcoming Louisiana Baptist Convention.   All nominees of the LBC Committee on Committees and Committee on Nominations must be elected by messengers to the Nov. 15-16 meeting in Alexandria. Some of those listed are nominated to second terms of service, while some will serve first terms, if elected.   Asterisks indicate a nominee who is other than a pastor.   Committee on Convention Arrangements   Bob Galloway, Rapides Station, Alexandria   *Melba Bounds, Donahue Family, Pineville       Committee on Credentials   John Astling, Calvary, Lake Charles   Marcell McGee, Grand Caillou, Dulac   *Zelda Beall, Trinity, Pineville       Committee on Louisiana Baptist History   *Jerry Poston, Kedron, Amite   *Linda McCartney, Calvary, Tullos       Committee on Moral and Social … [Read more...]

If early indications can be trusted, Louisiana Baptists can count on anything but a routine annual meeting this month in Alexandria. If early indications can be trusted, Louisiana Baptists can count on anything but a routine annual meeting this month in Alexandria.   Preregistration for the 2004 Louisiana Baptist Convention topped 1,300 before the end of October. Church leaders around the state report their congregations are planning to send a full slate of engaged messengers to the meeting. And several key issues have emerged in recent weeks, including a late challenge for convention president.   In addition, at some point during the convention, messengers are expected to be introduced to two men who will assume key leadership roles in the state in 2005 - Louisiana College President Malcolm Yarnell and LBC Executive Director David Hankins.   In other words, it is shaping up to be a fairly typical Baptist state convention - plenty of messengers, plenty of interest and plenty of opportunities for debate.   And all of that is on top of the regular offering of music and fellowship, reports from convention agencies and biblical challenges from a variety of speakers. Also, … [Read more...]

When Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Dean Doster announced his 2005 retirement in May, there was an unspoken hope that a new state leader could be introduced at the November annual meeting of messengers. When Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director Dean Doster announced his 2005 retirement in May, there was an unspoken hope that a new state leader could be introduced at the November annual meeting of messengers.   Mission accomplished.   Former Louisiana Baptist pastor and Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Vice President David Hankins, 54, was elected on three unanimous votes last week to succeed Doster as the next state convention leader.   He is scheduled to arrive in the state on January 1, 2005, and assume full duties when Doster retires at the end of the month.   "I will make this pledge to you, if God lays it on your hearts to elect me to this position of significant leadership," Hankins told LBC Executive Board members last week just before they voted to elect him to the state convention’s top post.   "I will not do you the disservice of not giving you significant leadership. I will not stick my finger in the air to … [Read more...]

Fearing the uncertainty of events and rising Islamic fundamentalism, large numbers of Iraqi Christians are fleeing to neighboring Jordan and Syria, reports indicate. Fearing the uncertainty of events and rising Islamic fundamentalism, large numbers of Iraqi Christians are fleeing to neighboring Jordan and Syria, reports indicate.   No one knows for certain how many of Iraq’s 750,000 Christians have left the country since the removal of former dictator Saddam Hussein - but estimates are in the tens of thousands.   The level of mistreatment Christians face in Iraq is disputed - even among Christians - but no one can deny the fear of those who are crossing the border. Church bombings in Baghdad and Mosul earlier this fall also have fueled that fear.   However, so do individual stories.   One Christian businessman who fled Baghdad for Jordan recounted how militants linked to renegade Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al Sadr kidnapped and tortured him until his family paid a ransom.   "They wanted $200,000 from me," he said. "They repeatedly hit me and poured boiling water all over my body. I was held hostage until my family paid them $50,000."   The man now … [Read more...]

The Supreme Court has agreed to wade into one of the day’s most explosive church-state issues - whether displays of the Ten Commandments on public buildings ever can be constitutional. The Supreme Court has agreed to wade into one of the day’s most explosive church-state issues - whether displays of the Ten Commandments on public buildings ever can be constitutional.   In an announcement that took some court watchers by surprise, the justices consented last month to hear appeals arising from conflicting lower-court decisions in two Ten Commandments cases.   In Van Orden vs. Perry, a Texas resident is challenging an appeals court ruling that a massive granite Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol did not violate the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion.   In that unanimous ruling, a panel of judges said the commandments monument had a secular purpose in teaching about the history of the state’s legal system and could not be viewed by a reasonable observer as an endorsement of religion.   The ruling also noted that the monument’s long history - it had been donated to the state in 1961 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles - and … [Read more...]

Wife Leah and her best friend, Donna, decided to be pioneer women, sorta. They decided that while their husbands could not go, they would wagon-ho (actually, SUV-ho) west to a tiny cabin near Creede, Colo. Wife Leah and her best friend, Donna, decided to be pioneer women, sorta. They decided that while their husbands could not go, they would wagon-ho (actually, SUV-ho) west to a tiny cabin near Creede, Colo.   They were drawn there by the spectacular views provided by nature as the leaves of the aspen trees turn from dark green to shimmering gold. The mountains become flooded with oceans of gold.   These two city-gals, whose idea of roughing it consists of sleeping on sheets with less than a 300-thread count, were ready to meet the challenges of an early depression cabin.   They met the challenge of opening the cabin after a winterized hiatus. They met the challenge of unloading the car without a man in sight. They met the challenge of starting a fire in the wood-burning heater.   They felt smug.   The first slight fright came when folks around town talked about "the large numbers of aggressive coyotes in the area this year." It seems the situation was severe … [Read more...]

For the week of November 11, 2004 Cooperative Program   Gifts through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program totaled almost $17.3 million last month, an increase of $1.5 million (9.7 percent) from the same month last year. The total also stands nearly $2 million (3.1 percent) ahead of monthly budget needs. That gets Southern Baptists off to a good start in their new giving year - after they closed the 2003-04 budget at the end of September a record $190 million in annual gifts. In addition to early Cooperative Program gifts, designated gifts for October totaled $3.2 million, a decrease of $174,748 (5.2 percent) from the same month last year.   Change of heart   Andrea Armstrong created quite a stir when she petitioned the University of South Florida to allow her to wear Islamic garb while playing basketball for the school. However, after winning her appeal, she has quit the team and told her hometown newspaper she has recognized the error of her ways and has returned to Christianity. "It was my loneliness and forgetfulness of my past teachings that caused me to convert to Islam," she said recently. "I know that my actions caused great controversy over the past few weeks. I had no … [Read more...]

Donahue Family Church in Pineville recently delivered cakes to 5,000 Pineville homes, but its primary purpose was not to attract new members to its church or convert others to Christianity. Donahue Family Church in Pineville recently delivered cakes to 5,000 Pineville homes, but its primary purpose was not to attract new members to its church or convert others to Christianity.   It was not a fund-raising campaign either. Each lemon-flavored dessert was given to homeowners free of charge.   Indeed, the effort was designed as a way for the church to demonstrate Christ’s love to the central Louisiana community, one cake at a time.   "We had people ask why we did this," says Keith Dickens, pastor of the Louisiana Baptist congregation.   "All we wanted to do was tell them we love them. Now, we also would like for people to come to our church, but we aren’t doing it for any reason other than to show the community we care about them."   Brantley Bond spearheaded the effort and agrees with the assessment.   "It’s a way of witnessing but a different way to do it," he notes. "This is a practical way of showing God’s love by giving … [Read more...]