Submitted by philip on Tue, 06/04/2013 - 10:45 A joyous boy leaps into the arms of his incarcerated father at the ninth annual AWANA Lifeline Returning Hearts celebration that took place at Angola prison on May 18. By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter ANGOLA – When the announcer at the recent AWANA Lifeline Returning Hearts celebration called the name of the first Angola inmate to come down out of the grandstands to greet a child he had not seen for nearly a year, Tracey Sanders burst into tears. “I started boo-hooing,” said Sanders, a second grade school teacher and volunteer from Satsuma Baptist Church in Livingston. “When I saw the joy of the children seeing their dads, and the joy of the dads seeing their children – I just couldn’t help it. “As a teacher I see so many children who do not have a father figure,” Sanders said. “I have students right now whose fathers are incarcerated.” Satsuma Baptist sent 27 volunteers and brought 26 children to the ninth annual event. More than 760 children, accompanied by 540 volunteers from 24 states, spent the day with about 340 inmate fathers, grandfathers and uncles. More than 340 mothers and grandmothers also came to the prison; they participated in a separate event just … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Tue, 06/04/2013 - 10:48 Members of a Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief unit from the Baton Rouge area work to put up a tarp on this heavily damaged house in Moore, Okla. By Brian Blackwell, Marketing Director MOORE, Okla. – Charles Watson described the scene of a tornado-ravaged area in suburban Oklahoma City as worse than what was portrayed on television. As the blue hat – leader – of the Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief unit from the Baton Rouge area surveyed the damage upon arrival to Moore on May 24, Watson noticed not only total destruction in neighborhoods but in other areas, homes not leveled but severely damaged. Throughout their week-long stay in Moore, the team of 15 from six different churches cut down and removed trees from homes, installed tarps on roofs and cleaned up yards. But even through the devastation that included the deaths of 24 people including school children who died when the storm touched down on May 20, Watson said the residents there have displayed a resilient and grateful attitude. “We have met people who have lost everything,” said Watson, who began serving on a Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief team during Hurricane Katrina ministry in 2005. “And they have … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Editor Baptist Message The National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has made a decision on the organization’s official position concerning the legitimacy and moral nature of homosexuality. As a result, Christians and conservatives will now be forced to make a decision. BSA leadership voted on May 23 to allow those who openly identify themselves as homosexual to be members. The organization did not, however, change its policy on Boy Scout leadership. Openly homosexual leaders will still not be allowed. Many conservative churches sponsor BSA troops and many more are Scouts and leaders. All of these will have a decision to make concerning whether or not to remain a part of an organization that has legitimized a behavior they believe is immoral. The BSA has come under increasing pressure from homosexual activist groups in recent years. The activists’ goal was to have the Scouts accept homosexuality as natural, normal and healthy. Financial pressure, the ploy of many activist groups, was brought to bear on BSA. Homosexual activists successfully lobbied corporations and non-profits to pull funding from the Boy Scouts. Additionally, efforts were made to keep BSA troops from using any public facilities for their … [Read more...]

By Penna Dexter, Columnist The gruesome trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell has ended. He’ll spend his life behind bars for murdering newborns not quite killed in abortion. Gosnell called his filthy clinic the Women’s Medical Society, a respectable sounding name for a disgusting facility that was somehow allowed to operate, without inspection, for more than 15 years. When it was finally investigated, authorities called the clinic a “House of Horrors.” Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman who died of a drug overdose while emergency workers tried to break into the clinic’s barricaded door. And he was convicted on more than 200 other counts including performing illegal late-term abortions. Both pro-lifers and pro-choicers were hoping for a conviction in this case. Pro-choicers had to show Gosnell is an outlier, an exception – that what he did was unethical, unscrupulous, illegal as opposed to what they portray as “safe,” legal abortion. In response to the verdict, Planned Parenthood deemed Gosnell’s crimes “appalling.” NARAL Pro-Choice America called his actions “atrocities” as if the abortions they support are not. Even with all its gruesomeness, it wasn’t until four to … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Tue, 06/04/2013 - 10:56 By Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research When tragedy strikes, deep and abiding religious convictions, shared by so many in our country, rise to the surface and reveal what was thought to be discarded. Much has been written about the secularization of America, and in some ways that is the case. Pew Research found that one in five adults in our nation have no religious affiliation, a group identified as the “Nones.” Oftentimes, research like this and other anecdotes about the waning influence of Christianity on the public square are presented as proof that America is no longer a religious nation. This supposedly demonstrates that we have left our religious traditions in history’s dustbin. Then, a tragedy strikes. Those times of grief reaffirm our identity as a religious nation. Shortly after the horrific news of the tornado devastation in Oklahoma,             #PrayforOklahoma quickly rose to the top of Twitter’s trending list as millions shared their prayers for the people who lost loved ones and had their homes destroyed. In times of prosperity, far removed from tragedies, many people in our culture reject expressions of faith. In the moments of hopelessness, … [Read more...]

By Evan Lenow, Assistant Professor of SWBTS CNN recently reported on a tragic story about a woman whose boyfriend tricked her into taking an abortion-inducing drug after she told him she was pregnant. The boyfriend, John Andrew Welden, is now facing first-degree murder charges for killing the unborn child. Welden told his girlfriend that his father, a doctor, had prescribed her an antibiotic for an infection. In reality, Welden gave her an abortion-inducing drug, and the pregnancy was terminated. This story is undoubtedly tragic, and Welden deserves to face punishment for first-degree murder. However, the undercurrent of this story works against the tide of abortion-rights advocates. Note with me the moral inconsistency of the logic of our laws and of abortion advocates. The pregnancy of Remee Lee was terminated by her boyfriend, the supposed father of the child. Since it was against the will of the mother, Welden is being charged with first-degree murder. However, if Lee had terminated the pregnancy herself, it would have been perfectly legal and perhaps even applauded by abortion advocates, even if the abortion had been against the will of the father. Why is this a problem? The charge of first-degree murder implies the … [Read more...]

By Argile Smith, Louisiana College Sometimes we hear stories about God’s love that stop us in our tracks. A story Dr. Welby Bozeman told about a member of his church had that kind of effect on me. I have a hunch that it’ll make you stop and think too. And it’s sure to make you breathe a prayer of gratitude to the Lord for His love that’s expressed through His people. But first, you need to know about Welby. Born and reared on a farm in Alabama, he was a public school principal before he became a preacher. Everyone regarded Welby as the quintessential Southern gentleman who exhibited the character of Christ in all his relationships. People who knew him will always remember his deep blue eyes that could peer into your soul. Welby and his wife, Jeanine, moved to Louisiana to serve the Lord in ministry. For seven years, He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Chalmette. Then the Lord called him to Louisiana College, where he served as a professor of Christian education for eighteen years. Welby also served churches in the capacity of interim pastor. After retirement, he continued to work in the churches and invest himself in the lives of people the Lord brought his way. His penetrating eyes, easy smile, and gentle ways … [Read more...]

By Archie England, NOBTS Question: How can God be good and allow there to be suffering? Archie England responds: Suffering resulted from Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden. Whereas God had created all things “good,” humanity, by the means of sinful rebellion, caused the blight of suffering to descend upon all creation. In Genesis 3, God announced the curses of sin. Sin’s deviation from the holiness and righteousness of God, necessarily evoked God’s judgment against every infraction of His goodness: Sin entered, bringing death, sorrow, pain, disease, etc. Human goodness devolved into corruption; selflessness, into selfishness. God, therefore, did not cause suffering to trample the creation, but as judge, He did utter the verdict that revealed the consequences of sinful rebellion: suffering. All subsequent suffering is the continued consequence of Adam’s first act of rebellion. Childbirth and (by implication) marriage relationships became complicated and painful (Gen 3:16). The means of daily existence was transformed from simple yielding (of harvested foods) to stingy refusal. Humanity would now have to work laboriously to coax the necessary sustenance from the earth (Gen 3:17-19). The Serpent forfeited its … [Read more...]

By Rachel Ortego, Regional Reporter BASILE – When Johney Jeans, a member of First Baptist Basile, walked into the local prison one Monday night to share God’s word, he was not surprised when the Holy Spirit led him to turn over the pulpit that night to his partner, Kent Aguillard, a member of First Baptist Eunice. What really “threw him for a loop,” Jeans said, was when a prisoner walked up to him and asked if he was a preacher or pastor, then left and returned with a blind man who wanted to talk to Jeans privately. “The prisoner came back to me with a blind man who asked if he could speak to me in secret. He then asked, ‘What do I have to do to convert to Christianity?’ I questioned him about his beliefs and led him in the sinner’s prayer,” Jeans said. He then told me, ‘I am a Palestinian Muslim. I cannot tell anyone my full name or I will be killed.’” A week after he made his profession of faith in Jesus Christ, the Muslim was returned as part of routine deportation to his home country. “Oh, I tell you it was unbelievable to experience this,” Jeans said. “I relate it to Phillip preaching that revival in Antioch. I’m not a preacher or pastor, I’m just a layman, and if I had been so prideful as to not give up my place to lead … [Read more...]

Submitted by philip on Tue, 06/04/2013 - 11:05 Based out of Duson Baptist Church, Wild Spirit Ministries ministers to boys through hunting and fishing. Each boy is paired with a mentor who shares tips on the sport but also advice on life and a relationship with Jesus Christ. By Brian Blackwell, Marketing Director DUSON – Daniel Benoit’s vision to reach young men for Christ came one day on a deer stand. An avid hunter, Benoit spent many mornings on his property participating in a sport he loved. Then, Benoit said, God told him to share his passion with boys who needed Christian love, whom in some cases had never hunted in their life. “God spoke to me and told me to quit being selfish,” Benoit said. “I couldn’t wait to get back and tell [Duson Baptist Pastor] Toby Ryder what God told me. “When I did tell him the news, Toby shared that God had told him the same thing but using his love for fishing,” Benoit continued. “And that’s how this ministry started.” Based out of Duson Baptist Church, Wild Spirit Ministries is a young men’s hunting and fishing club. The boys attend weekly Bible studies, participate in fishing and hunting trips both inside and outside the state and a monthly community-wide men’s supper where the boys cook … [Read more...]