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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Louisiana Milestones

Arrivals/Departures Jimmie Clark, new as pastor of Northside Baptist DeQuincy. Caleb Brown, resigned as youth minister of Wallace Baptist Pelican. Michael (wife Jodi) Trahan, new as pastor of Victory Baptist Esterwood. Rhett Baxley, resigns as children’s minister at First Baptist St. Rose for a similar position in Arkansas. Pastor: Jim Kiltau. Alex Davis, new as youth pastor at Summer Grove Baptist Shreveport. Pastor: Aaron Burgner. Jeff (wife Barbara) Feibel, new as pastor at Woodland Hills Baptist Shreveport. Yvonne (husband Guy) Keller, new as children’s ministry leader at Cross Point Baptist Benton. Pastor: Shane Nugent. Peter Tidovsky, new as music leader at Waller Baptist Bossier City. Wayne DuBose, new as interim pastor of Northwoods Baptist Shreveport. Billy Crosby, new as pastor of Beulah Land Baptist Haughton. Bill Treadway, new as pastor of Mt. Gilead Baptist Vivian. Larry (wife Nancy) new as pastor of Salem Baptist Plain Dealing. Amber Keeny, new as music leader at Providence Baptist Shreveport. Kevin Smith, new as interim pastor of Ida Baptist in Ida. Billy (wife Laura) Arnold Jr., new as pastor of Kaplan Baptist in Kaplan; Laura is new as music director. Scott (wife Dana) Belmore has resigned as UL … [Read more...]

Policy change has Boy Scouts hanging in the balance

By Staff, World News Magazine Briefs Every four years more than 40,000 Boy Scouts and their leaders hold a National Jamboree. This year they are scheduled to gather in July at the new Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. The scouts pitch tents, hike, tie knots, trade patches, and raise their right hands to affirm: “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout law, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” The pastoral scene will belie a crisis in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), one related to that oath. What is “duty to God”? What does it mean to be “morally straight”? On April 19, the national BSA leadership announced a proposed change to its current policy of banning openly homosexual men and boys from participating in Scouting. The proposed policy would walk a tightrope by banning homosexual adult leaders but welcoming boys who identify as gay, while affirming that “Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting.” The proposed policy emerged after an on-line BSA survey garnered more than 200,000 … [Read more...]

Tackling mental illness becomes priority for Staten Island church

Submitted by philip on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 10:30 On Tuesday nights, Crossroads Church in Staten Island, N.Y., hosts what they call the Freedom Ministry, offering numerous support groups on topics from grief to divorce care. By Erin Roach, Baptist Press STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (BP) – Pastor Ray Parascando had just clicked “send” on an email to his congregation, letting them know of a plan to start monitoring train platforms in Staten Island after a rise in suicides involving people jumping from those platforms. Then he heard the sirens. It had happened again. He ran up the block from the church to find a woman in her mid-30s had attempted suicide but survived. Her body was mangled when the emergency workers pulled her from the tracks. What Parascando remembers is the look of utter hopelessness he saw in her eyes. A week later, Hurricane Sandy devastated Staten Island and the surrounding region. People who already were coping with problems severe enough to press them to take their lives now had lost even their homes. Parascando and Crossroads Church knew they had to act. The Southern Baptist congregation began immediately meeting the physical needs like food, clothing and shelter Staten Island residents had in the … [Read more...]

Business professionals gaining vision for international outreach

Submitted by philip on Wed, 05/22/2013 - 10:32 Paul Hart (name changed) teaches a multi-week Sunday morning study on the customs and culture of the people group to whom the layman and business entrepreneur felt called at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, N.C. By Tess Rivers, Baptist Press RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – Overseas, the sound of a gate closing often signals the end of the workday when many business, healthcare and engineering professionals retreat into gated homes and communities. For missionaries, though, it can be a despairing sound. “We try reaching out to our neighbors but it’s hard because they work during the daytime,” says Derek Samuels* [star indicates name changed], an IMB financial administrator in Santiago, Chile. “My wife met the housekeepers and we wave to the neighbors every time we see them. Then they go inside and close the gates behind them. “It’s hard to build relationships at that level.” Samuels’ family isn’t alone, says Devah Millsap*, a communication specialist in IMB’s Office of Marketplace Advance. In many countries around the world, she notes, “It is difficult for IMB personnel to build relationships with business professionals. We don’t make sense to business people. They don’t … [Read more...]

RA Congress rounding up young men

Submitted by philip on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 08:48 Paul Daily, founder of Wild Horse Ministries, kneels before a wooden cross along with his daughter and a hired hand. Daily, who tamed a wild horse for the event, helped to make the RA Congress a memorable one. By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor WOODWORTH – Cowboy hats vied with baseball caps for space atop the heads of the 500 or more first- through sixth-grade boys at this year’s RA Congress. One young man even wore chaps on his legs and spurs – decorated with his first name, Read – on his boots for the mid-March event that this year carried the theme “Cowboy Up!” The chaps and spurs were gifts from his uncle, who rides the rodeo circuit in Texas, explained Read Areingdale, 10; he attends Calvary Baptist Alexandria. The “Cowboy Up!” theme will continue at RA Camp this summer, June 24-27 at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth, which also was the site of the RA Congress. “It has a good message,” said Brady Sanders, 12, of First Baptist Pineville of this year’s RA Congress. “You need to saddle up and get on with God.” It was Sanders’ second year to participate in RA Congress, the statewide missions education gathering for boys and their … [Read more...]

Cooke, Lee serve as keynotes for President’s 2020 Summit

Submitted by philip on Wed, 04/10/2013 - 08:50 By John Kyle, LBC Communications ALEXANDRIA – Television producer, author and media consultant Phil Cooke is to be the keynote speaker during the President’s 2020 Commission Summit April 22 at the Riverfront Center in Alexandria. Christian recording artist and lead singer for the group NewSong – Russ Lee – is to provide a mini-concert as part of the evening session. The Summit marks the approximate half-way point of the President’s 2020 Commission, which was approved by LBC messengers in November. Charged with “developing and recommending a seven-year strategy for maximizing Louisiana Baptists’ effectiveness in Gospel ministry,” the Commission is comprised of 20 subcommittees with 20 members on each committee. The April gathering will be the only occasion where the entire 400-member Commission will assemble. Persons interested in following the work of the Commission are encouraged to watch the Monday afternoon and evening sessions of the Summit via live web-streaming by logging on to www.LBC.org/2020  and clicking on the live streaming link. Current LBC President Waylon Bailey of First Baptist Covington said he is encouraged by the work of the Commission thus … [Read more...]

Royal Ambassador summer round-up

By Staff, Baptist Message The Royal Ambassadors will “Cowboy Up” again for camp June 24-27 at Tall Timbers in Woodworth. For more information about RAs,  visit LBC.org/RoyalAmbassadors, call 800.622.6549 or email:RoyalAmbassadors@LBC.org The RA Consultants may also be contacted.  Those living in the northern part of the state, contact Mike Collie at 318.278.2968 or email him at: mlcollie@suddenlink.net. Tom Long is the RA consultant for the southern part of Louisiana, and may be reached at 985.960.2989 or atAdventurerec1955@yahoo.com. … [Read more...]

Who is really anti-science? It’s proponents of abortion

By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor Many in the media tend to characterize conservative Christians as anti-science. But when it comes to the issue of abortion, it would seem that those who truly reject science are many of those same media members – and their ideological allies – who affirm abortion-on-demand. Let me explain. Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty legal group based in Arizona, filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University on behalf of a student group that was denied university funding for an exhibit that compares abortion to other historically recognized forms of genocide, according to a report on the Detroit Free Press website. “The lawsuit says that the student government should have allocated the roughly $5,000 that Students for Life had requested in February to sponsor the Genocide Awareness Project. The project uses large displays to compare abortion to the Nazis’ mass killing of Jews, the lynching of African Americans, and genocide in Cambodia,” reported the Free Press. According to the Free Press report, the Genocide Awareness Project travels the country and visits universities. It is sponsored by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a pro-life organization based in California. The lawsuit … [Read more...]

We should dedicate ourselves to praying in full surrender

By Claude King, LifeWay Years ago, while reading one of my dozens of books by Andrew Murray, I learned that our modern posture of prayer (kneeling with hands clasped with head bowed) didn’t come from Judaism but from a medieval homage ceremony. In the homage ceremony a king, lord or landowner would call his vassals or subjects before him to pledge their loyalty and obedience to their lord. The king would hold out his open hands. The subject would kneel with bowed head and place his hands inside the hands of his king. Then he would say these words, “I am your man.” That simple statement essentially meant, “I belong to you.” It included the obligation to obey any request of the king, even the call to battle. That pledge of obedience also included a readiness to obey even if the assignment would cost the life of the subject. It could become a pledge of obedience even unto death. Christians were required to pledge their loyalty and obedience to their earthly king in this homage ceremony. They realized, however, they owed a higher loyalty to their Lord and King in heaven. King Jesus is seated on His throne with outstretched, nail-scarred hands. He is waiting for our surrender and pledge of loyalty and obedience to Him for the … [Read more...]

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor I am a former LC trustee and a retired pastor who has supported a number of LC students. For those reasons, as well as being a strong backer of Christian education, the current ruckus at Louisiana College troubles me. However, rather than weigh in on one side or the other, I’d like to point out a few things I feel need to be addressed. 1 – We should praise the Baptist Message for covering this situation. I recognize at least one blogger feels the paper gives his side short shrift, but people on either side of an issue tend to blame anyone who doesn’t support their views 100 percent. Lately Southern Baptist journalism has tended to ignore controversy, probably in the spirit of furthering unity. However, historically our Baptist papers have been at the forefront of theological discussion. 2 – Please remember and keep at the forefront that LC is an educational institution. Even though it is a Baptist college, commissioned to give a clear voice to Baptist viewpoints, that does not mean it is to indoctrinate rather than educate. 3 – Remember the subtext that pervades everything. Students and others are watching to see how their respected leaders behave in institutional conflict. Are the faculty and administration … [Read more...]