By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Solange Parker was beaming with excite­ment as she entered the baptistery at Calvary Bap­tist Church, Nov. 10. With neighbor Justin Langford and personal primary care doctor Da­vid Guillot gathered be­side her, the 89-year-old fulfilled a 50-year dream of stirring the baptistery waters. “It was amazing, excit­ing and very important to my faith,” Parker told the Baptist Message. “I was filled with joy knowing I could get the order of my baptism right after all these years.” Though Parker turned to Christ many years ago, she never followed through with a public declaration of her faith through baptism. But because of a long-term friendship built with Langford and Guillot, the exposure to ongoing baptisms at Calvary and a message on the impor­tance of baptism by Pas­tor Todd Strain, Parker finally took that next step in her faith. “I knew it was a long time coming from the conversations we have had,” said Langford, also a professor of Christian studies at Louisiana Christian University. “After the service, when Todd preached about baptism, she looked at me and said, ‘Let’s make this happen.’” After several more months of delays because of … [Read more...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Baptist Message provides churches an opportunity to share with other Louisiana Baptists an upcoming revival, homecoming, new pastor, new staff member, a community outreach, or a concert in Louisiana Notables. To place your event in the paper, send your information (who, what, where, when, time) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. Please submit your information four weeks prior to the event to insure placement in the Message. ON THE MOVE Chris Poirrier is the new minister to median adults at First Baptist Church, Lafayette. Emily Slay is the new communication specialist for the Cenla Pregnancy Center. She previously served with the Louisiana Baptist State Missions Services team. Slay will manage social media accounts, utilize Facebook, Instagram and other platforms to reach mothers in need of our services and support. Lewis King is the new pastor at Mystic Baptist Church, Fields. POSITION SOUGHT Palestine Baptist Church, Bogalusa: Part-time or bi-vocational minister of music needed for Palestine Baptist Church in rural Bogalusa, La. If interested, please send resume to Palestine Baptist Church, 59369 Palestine Church Rd., Bogalusa, La, 70427, or call 985-732-7997, or email: … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff WISNER, La. (LBM) – High winds from a severe storm that passed through Wisner, Dec. 28, destroyed the fellowship hall of Holly Grove Baptist Church. One of several storms to strike communities in Louisiana that day, the damage occurred around 10:30 p.m. when 55 mph winds caused a tree to fall onto the roof of the facility, Pastor Dennis Fontenot told the Baptist Message. Fontenot said he is grateful that the church (which averages 40-50 in Sunday morning worship) had insurance and that no one was inside the building at the time of the storm. Until the church builds a new fellowship hall, the senior adult class that met there for Sunday school will be relocated to the worship center. “Even though it’s a loss, we are blessed,” Fontenot said. “By the grace of God, the incident occurred on a Saturday evening. If it had taken place a few hours later, some of our senior adults would have been injured or even killed because where the tree fell is the exact spot where they met for Sunday school.” Meanwhile, a Mississippi Baptist Convention congregation, O’Zion Baptist Church in Meadville, was destroyed when a tornado hit the facility around 3:30 p.m., Dec. 28. According to the Mississippi Baptist … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Anticipated thousands of Louisianians will stand together for life at five pro-life marches throughout the state in the coming weeks, according to the lead organizer. The theme for the marches is “Every life is worth living.” “We are thrilled in 2025 to proclaim that ‘every life is worth living’ in Louisiana from the unborn child in her mother’s womb to other vulnerable populations like the disabled and handicapped,” Louisiana Right to Life Executive Director Ben Clapper told the Baptist Message. “We know that we have been in uncharted territory since the reversal of Roe v. Wade with an uptick of propaganda in the press accusing pro-life groups, pregnancy centers, and pro-life people of harming women because of Louisiana's pro-life laws. The truth remains that the pro-life community loves both the unborn child and the mother. Our goal has always been to empower women to choose life in even the most difficult of situations. We, together with nearly 40 pregnancy centers across the state, continue to stand strong, but we need you to show our elected officials and the community that we will never sway in our mission to save lives.” -- Jan. 22 (Lake … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff PINEVILLE, La. (LBM) - Louisiana Christian University has narrowed down its list of candidates for the next president to five individuals. According to Presidential Search Committee Chairman Tommy Kiker, the committee met Dec. 11 and chose the finalists from a list of nine semi-finalists. “What I am most encouraged by is that I believe we are trying to pull the best fit and follow God’s direction in making this decision among a pool of excellent candidates,” Kiker, also pastor of East Leesville Baptist Church, told the Baptist Message. “Any one of these five men, I’d be proud to introduce as LCU's next candidate. “Pray that God would give us wisdom and make it very clear the choice He has for LCU,” he said. “There is really not a bad selection among this group. We don’t just want a good choice; We want God’s choice.” The committee will conduct in-person interviews with the finalists in January and hope to have a final candidate by the time the board of trustees meet Feb. 25. LCU has conducted a nationwide search for the 10th president of the nearly 120-year-old institution since June. Since then, the search committee has received applications and recommendations from alumni, community … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Escalating gang violence in Haiti’s capital city had forced Louisiana Reach Haiti to refocus its ministry on several fronts in 2022, but in New Orleans God was opening a door for Dawest Louis to share Christ’s love with his fellow countrymen, including those forced to move to the U.S. due to the situation in the Caribbean nation. Dawest, who graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary two years earlier, had longed to reach the more than 10,000 Haitians living in New Orleans with the Good News and began the process through the North American Mission Board to plant a church. Without a church building to call home, Louis and 11 others gathered for prayer and sought the Lord for His direction. God answered in April 2022 when Connect Church, Algiers, offered a space in their facility and Eglise Connect International was born. The church continued meeting and has grown to 65 who attend Sunday worship services. Of those, 12 have been baptized since its inception. In addition to holding Sunday worship and Tuesday Bible study and prayer, the church brings water to and shares the Gospel with taxi drivers at Louis Armstrong International Airport. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer HAMMOND, La. (LBM) – Door-to-door evangelism has been a way of life for Pastor Les Fogle­man for the last 40 years but in 2023 he felt led to use the parking lot of New Beulah Baptist Church in Hammond as a Gospel tool. Since June 2023, Fogle­man has placed signs on grassy areas near the parking lot to alert motor­ists to the opportunity of sharing their prayer needs. Through this ministry that operates on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, Fogleman has shared the Gospel with more than 350 people and seen 10 of them surrender their lives to Christ and follow through with bap­tism in a portable baptis­tery on the church parking lot. “A lot of people will honk and wave at me as they see me on the park­ing lot,” Fogleman told the Baptist Message. “I never know what problems and difficulties people may share when they come and ask for prayer. I’m thankful the Lord has allowed me the opportunity and honor to be there to pray with someone in need.” The idea to start the parking lot prayer ministry came to Fogleman while he was praying in front of the church. He noticed 15-45 cars at a time would pass through a red light by the church and knew that the community could … [Read more...]