Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/19/2014 - 10:02 Tommy French and Jay Adkins By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor PINEVILLE – An anticipated contentious fall meeting on Sept 16 of the Louisiana College Board of Trustees never materialized. While the proceedings did begin with some measure of drama with the resignations of three of its members, it quickly transitioned into a deliberate discussion of LC’s probationary status and reports dealing with the current state of the school. The resignations came shortly after the meeting began and followed the re-election of Tommy French, trustee from Baton Rouge, for a second, one-year term as the board’s chairman. Argile Smith, LC interim president, addressed a variety of issues in his report to the board. He gave most of his attention to plans for addressing issues raised by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in putting the school on probation. He also addressed the release of the SACS-COC letter to the board and touched on enrollment and answered questions posed by members of the board. Smith indicated Bob Agee has been hired as a consultant to assist LC with addressing its probation. Agee was president of Oklahoma Baptist University from 1982 to 1998. He also … [Read more...]
FOCUSED ON PRAYER: Pastors, laymen lift up concerns at special called day
Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/19/2014 - 10:15 Pastors pray with Louisiana Baptist Convention President Steve Horn during a special called day of prayer at First Baptist Bossier City on Sept. 11. Horn, who also serves as pastor of First Baptist Church of Lafayette, was among several pastors who offered thoughts and prayers that day. Prayers included spiritual awakening, the nation, parents, repentance, revival in churches, Louisiana College, the next generation, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and the President’s 2020 Commission. By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BOSSIER CITY – On a day when the nation remembered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, more than 40 Louisiana Baptist pastors and laymen gathered for a focused day of prayer for the nation and much more. “You came because you, like so many others of us throughout the nation, know that if God does not act we are hopeless,” Louisiana Baptist Convention President Steve Horn told the men gathered at First Baptist Bossier. “Whatever today is about, wouldn’t it be something if we were able to look back at this day, this moment, those of us who are gathered here today, we would be able to say we were eyewitnesses to the day when the Lord burst … [Read more...]
Louisiana College trustees tender resignations after meeting
by Kelly Boggs, Message Editor PINEVILLE – Three Louisiana College trustees resigned from the board during the Sept. 16 meeting held on the Pineville campus. Two others tendered their resignations shortly after the meeting. The five resigned, in part, in response to the trustees re-election of Tommy French, trustee from Baton Rouge, as chaiman of the board. Lonnie Scarborough, Jay Adkins and Roxane West all resigned immediately following the election of Tommy French of Baton Rouge to a second term as chairman of the board. Scarborough was nominated in opposition to French. Following the announcement of the results of the election, which was conducted by secret ballot and fell in favor of French 20-10, the three trustees resigned in rapid succession: Scarborough first, then Adkins and finally West. Adkins and West were in the final year of their trustee terms and attending their final meeting. Scarborough’s term was schedule to conclude in 2015. Though each made brief statements at the time they departed the meeting, Scarborough released a statement and asked the Baptist Message to print it in its entirety. Space considerations will prevent Scarborough’s statement from being printed in its entirety; however, the full … [Read more...]
Trustees Resignations Letters
Submitted by philip on Fri, 09/19/2014 - 10:27 Trustee Resignation Letters Select rating Give it 1/5 Give it 2/5 Give it 3/5 Give it 4/5 Give it 5/5 Give it 1/5 Give it 2/5 Give it 3/5 Give it 4/5 Give it 5/5 … [Read more...]
Busy schedule lay ahead for Louisiana Baptist singing groups
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer Judging by the schedules of two Louisiana Baptist singing groups, there’s a whole lot of singing going on through early 2015. The Louisiana Baptist Singing Ministers – a group of 52 music ministers and laymen – and the Louisiana Baptist Singing Women – a compilation of around 70 women from various areas of the state – kicked off their 2014-15 concert season in mid-September and will travel throughout the state until the spring of 2015. Highlights of the tour include a performance at Angola State Prison on Feb. 19, 2015, by the Louisiana Baptist Singing Ministers and a combined concert by both groups on April 16 at First Baptist Lafayette. During each performance, the two groups collect an offering for needy students. The Louisiana Baptist Singing Men collect money to fund BB McKinney scholarships for students at Louisiana College and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary who are preparing for serve as worship leaders. The Louisiana Baptist Singing Women collect an offering that goes toward the Teresa Thomason Keyboard Scholarship, which is awarded to Louisiana students who have participated in the State Piano Festival and are furthering their collegiate studies. To prepare for the … [Read more...]
Michael Sam isn’t about football, it’s about an agenda
By Kelly Boggs, Message Editor Quick, name a player who is on a National Football League practice squad other than Michael Sam. Unless you are a professional football geek, or a player from your college alma mater is on a 10-member scout squad, you don’t know any. Now ask yourself this question, “Why do you know Michael Sam?” It is because he publically announced his homosexual lifestyle following his senior season at the University of Missouri. It was reported that Sam told his teammates prior to the beginning of the 2013 season. I submit to you if Sam were heterosexual, most of America would not know his name. The news would not track his progress and, of course, no activist organization would trumpet his story. If it were not known he is homosexual, you certainly would not know that the Dallas Cowboys recently placed Sam on their practice squad after he was released by the St. Louis Rams. Sam is not really to blame for all the hoopla. He is just being used by those who want to promote the notion that homosexuality is natural, normal and healthy. Sam was taken by St. Louis in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL draft. He was the 249th player selected. While he did have a stellar career at Missouri, many pro football experts … [Read more...]
God, church graciously restore a terminated pastor
By Matthew Fowler, Pastor in Kentucky I was in the first year of my first pastorate when things unraveled. I had experienced a few rough patches in previous ministry roles, but nothing to kill my dreams and make me question my calling. I was familiar with stories of petty pastoral terminations and “difficult deacons,” but I was convinced that it wouldn’t happen to me, at least not at this church. A phone call changed all of that. I was out of town performing a friend’s wedding when a man from my church called very troubled about an issue. “Are you aware that there is a man in leadership at our church that has been sexually abusing his stepdaughter for 16 years?” he asked. I was shocked at the question and informed him that I knew nothing about it. Evidently, the long kept secret had been shared by the victim in a college essay about what sexual abuse had done to her. The man calling me had somehow learned of this essay and had begun his own investigation. He told me that he expected me to accompany him to the police station upon my return home to make a report. I shared with my deacons what I had been told and later told the police. My deacons told me to “leave it alone” and the police said, “We will look into it.” As … [Read more...]
Follow a pastor in the pulpit rather than one on the Internet
By Darrell Girardier, Digital Strategy Director Brentwood Baptist Church As a kid I grew up listening to preachers on the radio like John MacArthur and Charles Stanley. It wasn’t a weekly thing, but occasionally on the weekend you might find one of their sermons on the house stereo. If I wanted to listen to more of their sermons, I had to either tune in at a certain time or order their sermons on cassette or CD. Fast forward to today and we have a plethora of options to choose from. I can listen to or watch a sermon on a church’s website or download a podcast. Either way, we now have sermons on demand whenever and however we want them. In theory, there’s a lot good that can come from this. First, is the obvious advancement of the Gospel and second is the ability for us to have others speak God’s truth into our lives. However, some of us now have gone beyond just listening to these sermons and we’ve developed our own Internet pastors. By “Internet pastors,” I mean pastors who we follow religiously online. We read their tweets, every blog post they publish, every book they write and we listen to every sermon they preach. We hang on their every word. Before you know it, the Internet pastor replaces our pastor at our local … [Read more...]
We won’t make a dent in the darkness without prayer
By Chuck Lawless, Grad Studies, Ministry at SEBTS Our Southern Baptist Convention president, Ronnie Floyd, has called us to pray for spiritual awakening. This call is the right one for a convention that exhibits marks of decline even as we seek to determine the best steps into the future. The fact that our president must call us to pray for awakening says something about us, however. We do not readily recognize the need for an awakening, and our track record says we need to pray fervently for a mighty move of God. As a long-time Southern Baptist who genuinely loves our denomination, here are my thoughts about why we don’t passionately cry out for an awakening -- and why we must. I trust you will hear these words as both confession and concern, as I count myself among the guilty. We are “revivalistically numbed.” We have heard this call before. In fact, I know of no SBC president in my years of denominational service who has not in some fashion called us to our knees. Sometimes we do not hear what we need to hear because it sounds too familiar. On the other hand, the fact we are numbed is only one more indicator of our need for revival. We are biblically forgetful. Many of us forget (or perhaps do not even know) the stories … [Read more...]
Working and waiting until Jesus Christ comes again
By David Jeremiah, Pastor Shadow Mountain Community Church Do you believe Jesus Christ is going to come to earth a second time? There are many so-called Christians who either don’t know or are apathetic about the subject – something that never ceases to amaze me. How can we believe what Jesus said about the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life if we don’t believe what He said about His ultimate return to earth one day? And he said much about the subject. This article assumes the fact that Jesus is coming again. And it also assumes the absolute necessity, by Jesus’ own words in two of His parables, to work and to watch until He comes. If fictional special agents on television and real-life government agents can work and watch for things that “might” happen, how much more should we be working and watching for something that we know is going to happen. How to work until Jesus returns Jesus told a parable about our responsibility to be at work until He returns. It is found in Matthew 25:14-30 and known as the parable of the talents. The theme of this well-known parable is “Do business until I come.” It’s a parable about the big picture of stewardship: Stewards are to accomplish the master’s work in his absence. Therefore, … [Read more...]