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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Fire can’t break spirit of Turkey Creek Baptist, congregation rebuilds

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer GILBERT – A fire in late 2013 may have destroyed the sanctuary of Turkey Creek Baptist Church but could not break apart the spirit of the congregation in the midst of rebuilding the structure 19 months later. The fire happened in the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 2013. Though no one was injured, the incident left the congregation without a place to worship. Kyle Spinks, who became pastor of the congregation in July 2013, said that’s when his congregation began to rise to the occasion. “Just about every help you could think of, from prayers and phone calls to monetary donations, we received,” Spinks said. “We are thankful for the prayers and support. During all this process our prayer has been God would shine through us and our adversity. And we did that the best we can. “I told our congregation that when my family and I moved out here, we prayed for the fires of revival,” he continued. “They just came in a different way.” With the absence of a sanctuary the congregation had known as home for more than 90 years brought a few blessings. While they were without a sanctuary, the congregation met in a church member’s home. Attendance fluctuated between 30 and 60 people … [Read more...]

LC honoring distinguished alums Hill, Brown, Hanson at homecoming

By Kathy Hegwood Overturf, Louisiana College Alumni Director PINEVILLE – Louisiana College’s 2015 Homecoming Celebration kicks off Oct. 1 at a chapel service in Guinn Auditorium honoring this year’s class of distinguished alumni, which is a diverse group of individuals from the fields of business, education and full-time ministry. Don Hill (64), a former student body president; Becky Brown (76), a member of the first women’s basketball team, the Wildcat mascot and the 1976 homecoming queen, and Dr. Gretchen Lower Hanson (81) are the three alumni who will be honored. After graduating from LC, Hill, a businessman from Dallas, Texas, received  a Masters in Statistics from Florida State University. He went on to have a successful career in the financial industry. He was instrumental in creating the first Credit Reporting Resources Guide. He is also one of ten people who established Salt Grass Steakhouse and later Lupe’s Tortilla, two very successful restaurant chains. He and his wife Terry have been married since 1967 and they have one daughter. Upon graduation, Brown, who is from Richland, Miss., received graduate degrees from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, … [Read more...]

Louisiana College, Louisiana Tech enter into 3+2 degree program partnership

By Staff, Baptist Message PINEVILLE – Louisiana College students soon will have the opportunity to earn not one but two degrees. LC President Rick Brewer and Louisiana Tech President Leslie Guice on Sept. 15 signed a memorandum of understanding that allows for a 3+2 degree program partnership. Students at LC will earn a bachelor’s degree in pre-engineering in three years and then go to Louisiana Tech to earn an engineering degree in two more years. This new program allows for graduates to be more marketable in a changing world, contends Brewer. “I firmly believe that in the 21st century, success in the community will come through efforts of collaboration,” Brewer said in the press conference. “Programs like this 3+2 model will make graduates from LC and Louisiana Tech more marketable, and probably give them a good shot at grad school.” Guice called the partnership a great match, nothing that the agreement between the two institutions is both unique and historical. “The family spirit is very important on our campus,” he said. “We have a very positive culture on our campus that I think supports student learning.” “We are larger but it will be a nice transition opportunity for students that want to get some part … [Read more...]

GUEST EDITORIAL: Do as I do – The big issue for our Baptist family

By Randy Adams, Executive Director of Northwest Baptist Association An old saying goes like this: “Do as I say, not as I do.” Though many of us have said something like this to our children, we knew our parenting was weak when our lives betrayed our words of instruction. As I see it, the big issue in Baptist life today is that for too long, key leaders, and leaders at all levels, have been unable to say, “Do as I do,” or “Do as I did.” We are now seeing the fruit of this in the staff reduction at the International Mission Board (IMB). We are grieving the IMB announcement that our missionary force will be reduced by as many as 800. We are already down more than 800 field missionaries from our peak of over 5,600 in 2009. Still, with less than 4,800 field personnel, we have been unable to fund even these reduced numbers. An attempt to keep missionaries on the field led to huge deficit spending by the IMB, $210 million above income over the past six years. Obviously, this cannot continue, thus the staff reduction. Others will write and speak about how the financial crisis was and is being handled. My interest here is to address what I believe got us to where we are. As I see it, the trouble began over 30 years ago when … [Read more...]

Family relies on its faith, encouragement of others following death of NOBTS professor John Gibson

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS – In the days following the death of her husband, a beloved professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Christi Gibson has seen the Christian community rally around her and her family. And she now wants others to know they should feel free to reach out to others for help in overcoming a certain sin in their own lives. “The message we hope to get out is that we must do life in community,” Christi Gibson said. “And that means having some sort of environment where we hold each other accountable, are transparent, and talk about our struggles. She said we must adopt the attitude that “whatever it takes for us to get real in the Christian community, we are ready to do it. We are going to walk in truth.” Tragedy  Christi Gibson arrived home from work at approximately 5:30 pm. Aug. 24 when she discovered her husband, John, unresponsive at their home on the seminary campus. She immediately notified emergency medical services. Unfortunately, EMS responders were unable to revive him, and they pronounced him dead at the scene. Leavell College students were notified of their professor’s death during the first class period Aug. 25 and morning classes were … [Read more...]

Son reveals how NOBTS professor John Gibson died

By Staff, Baptist Message NEW ORLEANS -- The Orleans Parish coroner has yet to release an official cause of the Aug. 24th death of 56-year-old John Gibson, a beloved professor, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. However, Trey Gibson, the professor’s son, shared his father’s death appeared to come at his own hand during a chapel service Sept. 8. Dr. Chuck Kelley, president of NOBTS, said he could not comment further on the cause of death until the coroner’s report is complete. “On the first day of classes, we had the unexpected death of a much loved professor, colleague, and friend Dr. John Gibson,” Kelley told the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary family during a chapel service Sept. 8. “We learned that he made some very sad and unfortunate choices in his life, and his son shared in his memorial service his death appeared to come at his own hand.” Gibson was discovered at his home on the seminary campus at approximately 5:30 p.m., Aug. 24, by his wife when she arrived home from work. After finding Gibson unresponsive, she immediately notified emergency medical service. EMS workers were unable to revive him, and Gibson was pronounced dead at the scene. Leavell College students were notified of … [Read more...]

Southern Baptists undertook monumental task of helping New Orleans rebuild

Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS -- After 196 continuous days of response along the Gulf Coast, Southern Baptist leaders knew the third phase of disaster relief – rebuilding -- would take an effort bigger than anything ever attempted before, said Mickey Caison, the North American Mission Board disaster relief coordinator in 2005. In the New Orleans area alone, an estimated 100,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed. Responding in kind, Southern Baptists gave through the North American Mission Board and state conventions the largest disaster relief offering ever collected, Caison said. After a record-breaking disaster relief response, Southern Baptists were ready to mobilize to rebuild. The result was unprecedented, said Freddie Arnold, church planter strategist for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans in 2005. “It was probably the most impressive thing Southern Baptists ever did. The churches came together and stood together, and it was a long-term relationship,” Arnold said. “We’d never seen anything like that before.” A letter to the editor printed Mar. 1, 2007 in The Times-Picayune, the New Orleans newspaper, showed the impact Southern Baptist volunteers had made. Frustrated at the … [Read more...]

600 Katrina evacuees found shelter at Istrouma Baptist in Baton Rouge

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter BATON ROUGE - When  Ron Lambe, now-retired administrative pastor of Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, recalls Hurricane Katrina he can’t help but quote Charles Dickens, “it was the best of times and the worst of times.” “It was the worst of times due to how grossly ill-prepared our entire state government, the Red Cross, our church and even our nation was for a natural disaster of this proportion and the grueling 16 hour days our staff and volunteers put in each day,” Lambe recalled. “It was the best of times because it allowed our church members to learn quickly to love those who are less fortunate than us and to demonstrate true sacrificial love to those displaced by the floods.” Istrouma is the largest SBC/LBC church in Baton Rouge and had previously made an agreement with the Red Cross to be a shelter the year before Katrina made landfall. A small group of Loyola University students evacuating from New Orleans after summer sessions were the first to “camp out” in the church’s Bain Building, a two-story building of classrooms centered around a gym. Then the flood hit, New Orleans nearly emptied out and more than 600 distressed people ended up sleeping on cots and the gym … [Read more...]

Baptist response warms hearts to the Gospel

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter Raw emotions bubbled to the surface as people struggled to process the losses brought about by Hurricane Katrina. As Southern Baptists faithfully offered care to those suffering from the storm, hearts warmed to the Gospel. The power of relationship When the local news warned that those remaining behind must write their social security numbers on their arms so bodies could be identified later, Kelli and George Esler knew it was time to leave. The couple went to Grenada, Miss., where John and Candy Saxon, a couple who had befriended them the previous year, found them a place to stay. John was a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary student. Candy taught school in Chalmette with Kelli. When the news of the devastation in Chalmette reached them, Kelli realized her perfect life was over. “Living on the floor of some lady’s house, in a city I’d never heard of, in a state I’d never visited, that was the breaking point,” Kelli said. “I knew how out of control all of this was.” Kelli saw how far downward they had fallen when her husband, George, a computer programmer, took a job sweeping the floor of a sawmill. As George worked alongside John at the mill, he came to faith in … [Read more...]

Baton Rouge Baptist Churches provided shelter, food, clothing

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter BATON ROUGE - It only took a few days after Hurricane Katrina for the majority of Baptist churches in the Baton Rouge area to coordinate their efforts and begin helping thousands of evacuees that filled the Capitol City. Of the 85 or so churches and missions of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, then called the Judson Baptist Association, more than 50 churches are included on a September 2005, list outlining which church provided what kind of goods or services to the response effort. Nine churches provided direct shelter for hundreds of evacuees on their campuses and many of the others provided food, clothing, transportation, telephone service, showers, counseling and whatever else was needed, according to an October 2005 “Good News” newsletter that BAGBR office manager Jan Terral found in her files. BAGBR also served as an organizational hub for emergency responders, such as Red Cross and military and law enforcement, and found housing for them in dozens of area Baptist’s homes, including this correspondent’s house where several military officers stayed during the crisis. “The churches of the Judson Baptist Association have shown the world how Christian people … [Read more...]