By Staff, Baptist Message RIDGECREST, N.C. (LBM) – Trustees of the International Mission Board have agreed to a request from David Platt to join the staff of a Northern Virginia congregation as teaching pastor, while also serving as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s overseas mission entity headquartered in Richmond. Julie McGowan, IMB’s public relations leader, wrote Sept. 14, that trustee chairman Hance Dilbeck presented the information during the recently completed trustee meeting in Ridgecrest, N.C., for approval as part of the minutes from an Aug. 24 IMB trustee executive committee meeting. According to McGowan, during the August meeting, the executive committee of the IMB trustees agreed to evaluate Platt’s involvement at McLean Bible Church “during a provisional period over the coming months.” “‘Our president, Dr. David Platt, has expressed a deep sense of calling to serve as teaching pastor of McLean Bible Church while also continuing to lead the International Mission Board,’ Dilbeck, senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, said. ‘We respect Dr. Platt and his sense of the Lord’s leading; and we recognize our responsibility to hold him accountable for his work leading the … [Read more...]
IMB appoints 51 new missionaries, approves budget
By Staff, Baptist Message RIDGECREST, N.C. (LBM) – During their Sept. 11-13 meeting at the Ridgecrest Conference Center near Ashville, N.C., International Mission Board trustees approved new personnel and passed the 2017-2018 budget. The 51 missionaries who were appointed represent churches in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The overseas missionary force totaled 3,612 as of the end of the trustee meeting, up from the 3,596 numbered at the end of 2016. Meanwhile trustees approved a budget of $262 million, down from last year’s $270 million financial plan. The budget projects Lottie Moon Christmas Offering receipts at $153 million for 2017-18, similar to actual receipts for 2016-2017. The budget is based on a new fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018, which aligns IMB’s financial year with other SBC entities. Trustees also welcomed 11 new colleagues elected in June during the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Phoenix: Joel Bundick, pastor of Community of Grace church in Aurora, Colo.; Jim Crockett, president of R1 Ministries and member of First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, … [Read more...]
Michael Evans to be nominated for LBC second vice president
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer FOREST HILL (LBM) – Michael Evans will be nominated for the office of second vice president for the Louisiana Baptist Convention during the 2017 LBC Annual Meeting. Tim Lee, pastor of Smyrna Baptist Church in DeRidder, plans to nominate Evans for the position. “Mike is very mission minded and sees the best in people,” said Lee, who has been mentored by Evans for 22 years. “He loves the church and the mission of the church, and he has a heart for evangelism and for just encouraging and uplifting others. His example as second vice president would greatly benefit all Louisiana Baptists.” Evans, who is pastor of Elwood Baptist Church in Forest Hill, is the only announced candidate for the office. Evans said, if elected, he would be honored to represent his fellow bi-vocational and smaller church pastors with the state convention. Elwood Baptist Church averages 75 in worship service and 50 in Sunday school attendance, according to Annual Church Profile statistics. He said he also would like to help facilitate greater cooperation and stronger fellowship among pastors of churches of all sizes. “I would like to see the Barnabas spirit spread throughout our Convention,” he said. … [Read more...]
Religious freedom must be a foreign policy priority
By John N. Kennedy, U.S. Senator “I believe that the most essential element of our defense of freedom is our insistence on speaking out for the cause of religious liberty. I would like to see this country rededicate itself wholeheartedly to this cause. … We are our brothers’ keepers, all of us.” President Ronald Reagan WASHINGTON (LBM) -- If you’ve seen the Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” you’ve had just a glimpse of the poverty that exists in India. Mumbai, the largest city in the country, is home to one of the world’s largest slums, the Dharavi district, which alone has a million residents eking out an existence in squalid overcrowded conditions. Some reports estimate up to 60 percent of the city’s 21 million citizens live in such dire circumstances. Unfortunately, such human tragedy is not problematic just for Mumbai. Instead, roughly eight percent of India’s people live in slums and about one-sixth of the 1.31 billion citizens are impoverished, earning less than $1.90 a day. Religious and humanitarian organizations from around the world have been responding generously over the years, contributing time and money to help. For example, in the United States large numbers of Christians take time from … [Read more...]
Does God love you and want to save you?
By Mike Holloway, Guest Columnist ALEXANDRIA (LBM)--Where are we going in the Southern Baptist Convention pertaining to the love of God? I am hearing and reading about more and more Southern Baptists who say that God does not love the world, with some using theologically hair-splitting statements like “well God doesn’t love everyone the same or with the same kind of love” to argue their point. I would like to see the Bible verse that tells us that. More importantly, I really want to know if the Southern Baptist Convention is moving in that direction, one that discourages me from going to my neighbor and telling Him that God loves him and has a wonderful plan for his life. If this is the new SBC direction, then we really don’t have much of a message of hope to a lost and dying world. We need to throw away our Gospel tracts and stop doing outreach altogether because we’d be lying to some of our neighbors if God really doesn’t love them. I recently read an article by Lisa Bevere titled, “God Doesn’t Love His Children Equally,” in which she contends “God loves us uniquely rather than equally.” She wrote convincingly that “unique” is better than “equal” in that “equal” implies God’s love is “measured or … [Read more...]
Louisuiana Notables
ON THE MOVE Steven (wife Pammie) McAbee is the new pastor of Open Door Fellowship in Coushatta. Avery Dixon is the new pastor at Trinity Baptist Church, Hammond. Bobby LeCompte is the new discipleship minister at Bedico Baptist Church, Ponchatoula. Casey Stark is the new pastor at First Baptist Church, Slidell. Zach Husser is the new minister of music/discipleship at Westside Baptist Church, Ponchatoula. Blake Becnel is the new minister to young adults at Westside Baptist Church, Ponchatoula. Ray Werline is the new pastor at Woodhaven Baptist Church, Tickfaw. HOMECOMING First Baptist Church, Doyline: 93rd Homecoming, September 10, 10 a.m., special music; 11 a.m., Worship service; dinner on the grounds will be held following the service. Guest Speaker: Ray Hearron. Special Music: Bruce Lee. Pastor: Paul Pierson. Welcome Home Baptist Church, Hebert: Homecoming, September 10, 10:30 a.m. Speaker: Tony Robinson. Special Music: Kinetek. Pastor: Jim McKeithen. REVIVAL Calvary Baptist Church, Forest Hill: Revival, September 3-6, Sunday, 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.; Monday-Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Evangelist: Wayne Jones from Freedom Mission, Logansport LA. Special Music: Josh & Vallery Dixon. Pastor: Wayne … [Read more...]
Gulf Coast Baptist Association Crusade preparing for harvest of souls
By Message Staff MORGAN CITY – The 15 churches of Gulf Coast Baptist Association are devoting the month of August to a series of prayer meetings in preparation for a harvest of souls during its crusade featuring evangelist Bill Britt. Scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27-30 at the Bayou Vista Community Center in Morgan City, the Gulf Coast Crusade will include powerful messages by Britt and special music by Dwight Fitch, worship leader at Celebration Church in New Orleans. Throughout this month, the churches have participated in a pre-crusade rally at Little Pass Baptist Church in Charenton. Also scheduled is a prayer meeting at Unity One Baptist Church in Centerville at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 and a prayer walk at 4 p.m. Aug. 26 on the grounds of Bayou Vista Community Center. Individual churches also plan on holding prayer meetings in their members’ homes. Director of Missions Steven Kelly said since eight of his 15 churches have an average weekly worship attendance of under 50 people, the combined effort allows them the opportunity to participate in a revival featuring Britt, who is well known in Baptist circles for seeing many people saved during his revivals. For such harvest to take place during the Gulf Coast Crusade, Kelly … [Read more...]
Louisiana Baptist Foundation reports good news for investments
By Jerry Love, Director of Planned Giving ALEXANDRIA (LBM) – News of well-performing portfolios, updates on investments, progress on its new accounting software and the approval of its annual audit highlighted the second quarterly meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Foundation Board of Trustees meeting July 25. INVESTMENT UPDATES E.L. Paulk, trustee from Deville, chaired the morning meeting of the Investment Committee. In a conference call to trustees, Lee Morris, Investment Consultant with Graystone, reviewed the investment holdings and performance for the first half of 2017 in context of the U.S. Domestic Equities markets, which are positive for the year. Morris said fixed income portfolios remain relatively sluggish, as anticipated, explaining that the Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates once more by year end. He said active management was gaining traction versus passive management through the first half of 2017, with more managers “picking stocks” rather than essentially “indexing funds” to the markets. He also discussed alternative allocations, such as convertible securities and preferred stock, are performing well and adding value to the portfolio at both the performance and diversification level. … [Read more...]
It’s hard to imagine state cooperative ministries without GBO
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA (LBM) – The popular Christian group Mercy Me broke into the contemporary Christian music scene in 2002 with their inspirational single “I Can Only Imagine.” As Louisiana Baptists approach a season of focused prayer and giving for state missions and ministries, it may be appropriate to ask, “Can you imagine what Louisiana would be like without the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering?” The offering is the lifeblood of many ministries throughout the state including disaster relief, church planting and many more. Without the state missions offering, 86 churches that benefitted from Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief during the 2016 and 2017 floods likely would have received much less help. Without the offering, Louisiana Baptists might not have planted 200 churches since 2010 and would not have witnessed 11,000 new commitments to Christ, including 1,329 first-time decisions and 384 baptisms last year alone. Without the offering, church plants might not have received $330,000 last year in funding. Without the offering, Suburban Baptist Church in New Orleans might not have re-opened as soon as it did with the help of mission builders, six months after an … [Read more...]
The superb right and tragic wrong of the SBC Alt-Right resolution
By Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Never is it wrong to state a firm case for racial justice in America. If racism continues to be problematic the world over; at least not in America, and certainly not in the SBC, should we ever tolerate the raising of the ugly head of injustice or the unkindness that accompanies any racial intolerance. God is the Creator of all men, and He said that all that He created was “very good.” We, as Baptists, are entitled to no other view. The denunciation of the racism of the “alt-right” is most certainly in order. As Southern Baptists were voting their approval of the resolution against the alt-right, Congressman Steve Scalise was in the gun sight of a rabid member of what might be fairly styled “the alt-left.” And make no mistake, that angry man did not mean to wound but rather was determined to kill – all the Republicans that he could. That is why the resolution against the “alt-right” was superbly right and tragically wrong at the same time. Constitution guarantees free speech The free speech guaranteed by our Constitution has been abrogated on numerous college and university campuses. The president of the United States has been threatened … [Read more...]
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