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...]
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor I do not know Joe Aguillard, but as far I can tell he is just standing up to some who want to control Louisiana College. With their threats of leaving the college and their denigrating language it seems they want to see their candidate ushered into the position of president. Situations like the one at LC have always saddened me. Over the past 27 years I have endured attempts by some of the same type people who have wanted to remove me from my position as pastor. The mantra of those who wish to control is, “If we can’t control it then we will remove our money and our attendance and make that preacher pay for his resistance to our will.” It seems to me like God did the calling maybe; He hasn’t called him away just yet. Where Calvinism is concerned we, as Southern Baptists embrace the total depravity of man (none good, not one), the sovereignty of God (God’s “allness” or His Omni-characteristics), and the final perseverance of the saints (or eternal security) while the other two aspects of the TULIP are debatable, we pretty much hold to those three aforementioned doctrines. I think as a respected friend of mine has stated before in a comment to your paper, “We have an elephant in the room and we are … [Read more...]
The ‘10 Commandments’ for guest-friendly churches
By Thom S. Rainer, President of LifeWay I travel a lot and spend a lot of time in different churches. Sadly, many times I do not feel welcome as a guest when I visit churches. The Bible is replete with admonitions of hospitality and servanthood. I just wish our church members understood that the servant-like spirit should also be manifest when we gather to worship. Guests are often uncomfortable, if not intimated, when they visit a church. We are to be gracious and sacrificial servants to them. In response to this need for more guest-friendly church members, I have devised the 10 greatest needs, at least from my perspective. I will reticently call them “commandments” and throw in a little King James English for effect. 1. Thou shalt pray for people in the services whom you don’t recognize. They are likely guests who feel uncomfortable and uncertain. 2. Thou shalt smile. Guests feel welcome when they see smiling people. (You can resume your somber expressions when you get home.) 3. Thou shalt not sit on the ends of the rows. Move to the middle so guests don’t have to walk over you. You’ll survive in your new precarious position. 4. Thou shalt not fill up the back rows first. Move to the front so guests don’t have to walk … [Read more...]
Questions We’ve Pondered
By Johnathan Patterson, NOBTS Question: Did God call Esther to sin? Jonathan Patterson responds: Esther 2 tells us that Esther was gathered, along with other young women, and placed among the king’s harem of virgins. After a year of preparation, each virgin was appointed one night only with the king and returned the next morning to the harem of the king’s concubines. Esther had been instructed by Mordecai not to reveal her racial heritage, so when it was her time she entered into the king’s chambers as instructed. The Bible never specifically tells us that Esther slept with Artaxerxes, but the implication is quite clear. So how do we then rectify what we know of God’s commandments to refrain from sexual relations outside of marriage with what we recognize to be the divine hand of guidance upon Esther’s life? Had God called Esther to sin by committing fornication? A soldier is thrust into war for the primary purpose of eliminating an enemy threat. When that soldier kills an enemy combatant, we do not consider this murder but rather the necessary consequences of the situation he or she is facing. That soldier’s choice is simple: kill or be killed. Esther’s was not a choice of retaining or surrendering her virtue; it was a … [Read more...]
The Supreme Court tackles homosexual marriage
By Richard Land, President of the ERLC Recently the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on same-sex marriage; it was a high-stakes moment for both American society and for the court itself. The Court heard arguments on California’s Proposition 8 (Hollingsworth v. Perry) case and also reviewed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in U.S. v. Windsor. Just like in Roe v Wade, a case widely discredited by legal scholars as poor law and credited by conservatives as the spark that ignited Christian activism, the court has a massive challenge ahead of it -- threading the needle between state’s rights and the press of coastal public opinion. The California case has the potential for far-flung reverberations in all 50 states. In the Proposition 8 case, the court will decide whether to overturn a lower federal court’s renunciation of Proposition 8, in which the voters of California voted to amend their state constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman. The presiding judge, the since retired Vaughn R. Walker, declared that “excluding same-sex couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a legitimate state interest.” The Obama administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Proposition 8 case … [Read more...]
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