Submitted by philip on Mon, 11/18/2013 - 10:20 John Kyle, LBC director of communications, unveiled the Highway & Hedges media campaign Sunday evening at the Pastors Conference. Southwest Louisiana has been selected as the first pilot market with a soft launch date in the first quarter of 2014. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Throughout the first few months of 2014, a massive media campaign will spread the word to soccer moms and others in Southwest Louisiana about the opportunity to say yes to a relationship with Christ. And in the ensuing months and years that follow, Louisiana Baptist leaders hope the campaign will reach other areas of the state with that same message. Announced during the Pastors Conference and Louisiana Baptist Convention Annual Meeting last week, Operation Highways and Hedges is a multiplatform, multiyear media strategy designed to work its way across the state over the next three-and-a-half years. “Jesus directs us to go in the highways and the hedges,” according to John Kyle, LBC director of communications. “What does this looks like in the 21st century? How are we going to get inside the smart TV’s, smartphones and tablets people use on regular basis in order to … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 11/18/2013 - 10:23 Messengers Lewis Richerson and Jay Adkins both make motions during the LBC Annual Meeting seeking to remove the ability of the state executive director to vote on convention boards. Their motions were referred to the Executive Committee. Richerson serves as pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Baton Rouge while Adkins is pastor of First Baptist Church Westwego. By Staff, Baptist Message ALEXANDRIA – During the Monday evening and Tuesday morning business sessions of the Louisiana Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, two motions seeking to remove the ability of the state executive director to vote on convention boards were referred to the LBC Executive Board for further study. Jay Adkins, pastor of First Baptist Church of Westwego, presented a motion on Monday evening, asking messengers to clarify that the Louisiana Baptist Convention executive director is not a voting member of the four boards of the LBC. The only entity Adkins specifically mentioned in his motion was Louisiana College. In the written motion Adkins submitted, he requested the LC board of trustees amend their articles of incorporation to comply with the LBC’s bylaws by removing “and the executive director” … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 11/18/2013 - 10:25 Real Encounter Outreach from Springfield, Mo., showcased its motorcycle and BMX skills while delivering motivational speeches at 12 area school assemblies. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – An exhibition by an extreme bicycle team and a block party yielded more than 200 decisions for Christ and making future contacts for churches during the recent CrossOver evangelistic effort. Preceding the Louisiana Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, CrossOver incorporated the events in Grant and Rapides parishes from Nov. 3 to 7. Mirrored after the national event that takes place before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, this was the eighth CrossOver to occur prior to the LBC Annual Meeting. A steering committee began planning in April and enlisted volunteers from among the 95 Louisiana Baptist churches that are members of Big Creek, Central Louisiana and North Rapides associations. The first event held during CrossOver was a block party at Legacy Heights apartment complex in Alexandria on Nov. 3. Two churches near the apartment complex – Family of Grace and New Christian Life Fellowship – used inflatables, food and the LBC evangelism team’s block … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Mon, 11/18/2013 - 10:27 SBC President Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church New Orleans, told a large crowd that pastors, like soldiers, must go through boot camp (church, Bible Study, and fellowship with other believers) to become a solider in God’s army By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer PINEVILLE – Just like the US military, God’s army needs good soldiers for battle. But when called upon at a moment’s notice, Christian soldiers must adequately be prepared for warfare, Fred Luter said. “Paul encourages Timothy to be loyal, to be faithful, but most of all be strong in the Lord because of all the opposition he will face as a follower of Jesus Christ,” Luter said during the recent Louisiana Baptist Pastors Conference. “Paul compares the life of a Christian to the life of a soldier. But what does a Christian soldier look like?” Citing 2 Timothy 2:1-4, Luter said a Christian soldier is ready when deployed, avoids distractions and is dedicated to his commander. Just as a soldier must go to boot camp before fighting, a soldier in God’s army must go through boot camp, which is church, Bible study and fellowship with other believers. That will equip believers to fight warfare … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Baptist Message Editor In a day when people concoct almost any excuse for failing to keep a commitment, and would rather give up than give all, someone like Larry Swilling stands out. Swilling, 78, spent almost a year walking hundreds of miles around South Carolina with a sandwich board sign that read, “Need Kidney 4 Wife,” according to news reports. His efforts finally paid off when a donor came forward. Swilling’s wife of 55 years, Jimmie Sue, was born with only one kidney and it began failing last year. When tests showed Swilling and his three children all had the wrong blood type to be donors, Swilling hit the streets. Jimmie Sue, 76 and on a transplant list, could have waited years for the right organ to come along. He husband was not willing to play the waiting game. He did what he could; he hit the streets with his sign. Swilling walked the main thoroughfares in and around his hometown of Anderson, S.C., toting his sign with one thought in mind, “We’re just hoping every day, every minute, we get the call to head to Charleston for a transplant.” In heat, in cold, in rain, Swilling walked with the sign that stated his very specific need along with his phone number. As media coverage drew attention to his … [Read more...]

By Wayne Jenkins, LBC Director of Evangelism and Church Growth It was 1969 and I had just bought my first new car. My old car was a beat-up, 1953 Mercury.  I bought the Mercury for $35 running and sold it for $50 not running. To say the least, I was extremely proud of my new car -- a Toyota that cost less than $2000. I babied it, washed it weekly and took great care of it. One afternoon I was in my car in front of Louisiana College waiting for the light to change. I was glancing at leads given to me by the insurance company where I was working. Suddenly, I heard the horrible crunch of sheet metal and I was jolted forward in my seat. I had rolled into the back of a school bus. The wreck caused the hood of my new car to bend, angling awkwardly toward the ground. The bus had no damage. I became physically ill over the situation. Recently I had another jolt, but one with eternal consequences. While studying the 2012 Baptism Statistics, I realized we had been slowly, yet consistently, creeping down in our children’s baptisms. I discovered out of the 14,633 churches reporting in Louisiana, 778 did not baptize one child during the entire year.  In addition, 905 churches did not baptize one youth. These two stats accounted for our … [Read more...]

By David Roach, Writer from Shelbyville, Ky. Whenever there’s an archaeological discovery related to the Bible, conflicting interpretations by various experts can leave a believer’s head spinning. Take the discovery in Israel of a palace from the era of King David earlier this year. An archaeologist from Hebrew University in Jerusalem said there’s “unequivocal evidence” that David and his descendants ruled at the site. But critics, including some committed believers, say it could have belonged to other kingdoms and that David’s palace likely would have been in Jerusalem some 18 miles northwest. Still others claim there is no archaeological evidence that David even existed. Similar confusion ensued this spring when archaeologists discovered a massive complex that may have been an administrative center in Abraham’s native Ur, with division over whether the patriarch’s Ur was at that site or farther north. Since debate often surrounds the discovery of biblical sites, lovers of the Bible may be tempted to give up on archaeology, pronouncing it unhelpful and opting instead to accept Scripture’s historical accounts on “blind faith,” convinced that historical evidence will never be able to confirm biblical accounts. Admittedly, … [Read more...]

By Penna Dexter, Conservative Radio Personality I have a friend who divorced a few years ago – she was happy to get rid of the guy – and in some ways she had a point. Now that she’s out on the dating scene and struggling to pay the rent and raise a teenage daughter, I really don’t think her life is any better. There’s a reason we encourage marriage in our culture. It’s God’s idea and it’s the way families work best. It’s still a goal for most people. A new Gallup study shows 54 percent of adults are married and another 21 percent who have never married would like to. Even young people want to get married, though they’re doing it later. Twenty-eight percent of people in the 18-34 age group are married and another 56 percent told Gallup pollsters they hope to get married. Some people are tentative about getting married because their parents’ marriages didn’t last. Thankfully, the divorce rate is dropping, but it’s still way too easy. In fact, it’s easier to get out of a marriage than it is to get out of a cell phone contract. It wasn’t always so. Legal no-fault divorce began in California in 1970 and was in every state within four years. It was supposed to make divorce less acrimonious, easier on the kids. It just made it … [Read more...]

By Bill Warren, NOBTS Christians are not called to live in safety and comfort, but to live faithful to God no matter what the cost.  This truth has been lived out in many settings of the world, with Latin America being one of those. In what follows, we’ll look at some stories of Christian martyrs in Colombia, although of course many Christians have paid the ultimate price for following our Lord Jesus in other Latin American countries as well. To be sure, the vision of the Kingdom of God is indeed one of peace where we can enjoy our relationship with God, with each other, and with God’s creation as it awaits what God has for it (Romans 8:18-22). But God calls us to participate in making his “already here but not yet here in all of its fullness” kingdom as much of a reality as possible in our lives and settings. And that call may lead down paths that are not at all safe or comfortable as we seek faithfulness to God more than anything else in the midst of settings that often are openly hostile to what God is seeking to accomplish.  And that leads to sacrificial faithfulness that at times even means faithfulness that ends in martyrdom. In Colombia, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have testified with their lives, … [Read more...]

By Archie England, NOBTS Question: Did Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord? Archie England responds: Judges 11 records the tragic account of Jephthah’s foolish vow. As an illegitimate-born, ruffian-raised outlaw (11:2-3), Jephthah rose to prominence as a valiant warrior – defeating the Ammonites. Unfortunately, his zeal for success (while anointed for this task of delivering Israel) resulted in a rash vow: “whatever comes out of the doors of my house . . . I will offer it up as a burnt offering”(11:30-31). The story concludes in verse 39; Jephthah did “according to the vow he had made.” The most common understanding is that Jephthah offered his daughter to the Lord as a burnt offering. While not accounting for the odd context of the story’s ending, this view well fits Jephthah’s base character and (presumed) ignorance of Mosaic Law. On the other hand, this interpretation necessitates a child sacrifice (“passing through the fire”) as the means of keeping a vow to God. But Moses forbid such action (Deut 18:10). How could those elders of Israel who invited Jephthah to lead them to God’s blessing have allowed such behavior inviting God’s wrath? This is a problem. The text itself raises further … [Read more...]