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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

On second ballot, messengers elect Litton SBC president

By Will Hall, Message executive editor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, June 15, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting. Litton won a runoff vote against Georgia Pastor Mike Stone, by a margin of 556 votes, 6,834 to 6,278. The messenger count peaked at 15,691 prior to the election, according to registration secretary Don Currence. However, only 13,112 ballots were cast. FIRST ROUND Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Blackshear, Georgia, led Litton after the first round of voting among four contenders, who included R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, and Randy Adams, executive director of Northwest Baptist Convention, Vancouver, Washington. First Vote: Stone, 5,216, or 37.2 percent; Litton, 4,360, or 31.1 percent; Mohler, 3,764, or 26.9 percent; and Adams, 673, or 4.8 percent (out of 14,013 total votes counted). CAJUN COMMENDATION Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, New Orleans, nominated Litton with a strong endorsement of Litton’s ability as a “uniter” who has “uniquely shown his commitment to … [Read more...]

Louisiana Notables

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have a Revival, Homecoming, a new pastor, a community outreach or a concert? The Baptist Message would love to share your church news with the rest of the state. It is very easy to do, just send in your information (who, what, where and when) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. To get your event in the paper, please submit your information three weeks prior to the event. ON THE MOVE Michael (wife Tammy) Wilkinson from Macedonia Baptist Church, Effie to become pastor at East Jena Baptist Church, Jena. Sam Haggard is the new youth minister at Bethany Baptist Church, Bethany Kirk (wife Jordan) Talley is the new music minister from Open Door, Ragley to Blanchard Baptist Church, Blanchard. Joshua (wife Rebekah) Timothy will be ordained to the Gospel ministry on June 27 at 6 p.m. He is the pastor of Esler Baptist Church, Pineville. Will Simmons is the new discipleship pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport, from North Keithville Baptist Church, Keithville. Austin Eaken is the new youth pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport from Grawood Baptist Church, Keithville. Chris Keeny is the new pastor at Westlake Baptist Church, Shreveport from Mooringsport Baptist Church, … [Read more...]

Messengers adopt 10 resolutions

By Will Hall, Message executive editor NOTE: The online edition of this article has been corrected to indicate that the SBC Resolutions Committee tabled Resolution 7. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (LBM) – Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2021 Annual Meeting adopted nine of the 10 resolutions submitted by the Resolutions Committee and added one from the floor that called for “abolishing abortion.” According to Baptist Press, the Resolutions Committee had declined the previously submitted pro-life resolution, June 15, because the issue of abortion had been addressed in another resolution they wrote. However, one of the co-authors of the rejected resolution spoke to the messengers, who voted to bring it to the floor for consideration with a two-thirds vote and adopted it the next day after the word “alone” was added. In the end, this resolution declared “that we will not embrace an incremental approach alone to ending abortion because it challenges God’s Lordship over the heart and the conscience, and rejects His call to repent of sin completely and immediately.” Meanwhile, the committee tabled the proposed Resolution 7 they had crafted -- which denounced “the Capitol resurrection of January 6, 2021, … as inconsistent … [Read more...]

Messengers present 32 motions for consideration

By Staff, Baptist Message NASHVILLE (BP) – Messengers presented 32 motions during the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, and moved: for an investigation of the ERLC for concealing knowledge about sex abuse for more than a year and only revealing such information through leaked ERLC letters accusing the EC of racism and mishandling sex abuse cases (Jared Longshore, Florida); for an outside investigation of the EC regarding the ERLC’s accusations in the leaked letters (Grant Gaines, Tennessee); for the Executive Committee to study possible conflicts of interest because the same legal counsel represents the EC and the SBC (Jay Adkins, Louisiana); to break fellowship with Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California (Shad Tibbs, Louisiana); that specific conditions be met before using Cooperative Program funds to pay for an outside in-vestigation of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission or the EC (Allen Nelson, Arkansas); that a Fellowship Meal Sunday be added to the SBC calendar (James Allen Murray, North Carolina); to rescind Resolution 9 (that approved of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality), which was adopted during the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting (Tom Ascol, Florida); to end … [Read more...]