By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - In my distress I called to the Lord;     I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice;     my cry came to his ears. -2 Samuel 22:7 My Facebook memory notifications are reminding me that this week marks four years since the historic floods in South Louisiana. Our church at the time had 50 families with water in their homes. In some ways, four years seems like a lifetime ago. So it is with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005. So it is with 9-11, now nearly 19 years ago. One day, we will talk about COVID-19 the way we talk about these other life catastrophes. All of those were, and are headline-dominant, history-making, life-altering events – giants, if you will.  And in this COVID-weary season, there often appears to be no shortage of these giants. They simply keep coming. Their shadows cover our attempts to recapture some degree of normalcy in our ministries, our families and our culture. We know about David’s battle with Goliath, but the rapid succession of giants coming against David, as recorded in 2 Samuel 21:15-22, is not as familiar. In the span of eight verses, we learn of four giants coming against Israel. All four were descendants of that great giant, Goliath. All were … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey Recently, I saw a tweet on Twitter that asked the question, “What would Jesus do in the midst of a worldwide pandemic?” No answer to the question was given, but the author obviously had an agenda and a suggested answer. The good news is that it led me to really ask, “What would Jesus do?” A man I’ve known about for a long time tried to answer that question biblically and seriously. Wallace Henley said that Jesus would do now what He did then. At that point Henley began to describe what Jesus did then and what the church today should do. In my words, the church needs to come out of this pandemic stronger than when we entered this difficult time. We need to make sure we live biblically and express the hope that we have in Christ. What did Jesus do? 1. He worshiped. Jesus worshiped, and He taught people to worship. He told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul. He told us to worship God in spirit and in truth. Luke reminded us that Jesus made it His custom to worship the Father. 2. Jesus interceded. One of the great things we can do is intercede for our neighbors. In times like these, people want to pray, and they want us to pray for them. One of my favorite old … [Read more...]

By John Hebert, Louisiana Baptist missions and ministry team leader ALEXANDRIA, La. - “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8) This verse describes the exercise of faith as accurately as any in the Bible. Abraham exercised faith by obeying and going. He didn’t even know where he was going, yet he acted. Exercising faith is an essential skill for all church leaders. In the past year, I have tried to present the skills of successful church planters and church leaders. Hopefully these articles have been of benefit to our readers. The idea behind my writing has been manifold. -- I wanted to present a complete list of necessary skills. --I wanted to clearly define each skill. --I wanted to describe them in such a way that individuals could assess their skill development on a practical rather than academic level. --I wanted to challenge all leaders to continue in the pursuit of skill development. The skill of exercising faith is harder to describe than to illustrate. In Hebrews 11, however, the writer seems to do both well. The New International Version (NIV) Bible … [Read more...]

By Stewart Holloway PINEVILLE, La. - Transitions are some of the most beautiful things that occur in life. In music, we can feel our spirits lift as a modulation occurs. In sports, transitions cause us to rise from our seats and cheer on our team as the football is run into the end zone or the basketball is passed to a player who shoots and scores. In creation, the daily sunrise and sunset and the seasonal changes can take our breath away. As we live our lives, we see a lot of persona...l transitions: the first day of school, graduation day, wedding day, first job, new job, new home, first child, first grandchild, etc. Most transitions come at beautiful times in life. We celebrate them as they happen, and remember them with fondness as we look back through pictures and videos. Have you ever stopped to realize, though, that every transition, no matter how beautiful, has a bit of fear attached to it? Will the musicians make that key change effectively? Will the catch be made? What does the night hold? What does the new day hold? What will this year of school be like? What will being on my own be like? Is this really the person for me to marry? What kind of parents will we be? Will we be able to handle the empty … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - As we pass the mid-point of what seems like an extremely long year, several words come to mind that would be descriptive of how I feel about 2020. Unexpected would definitely be one of those words. No one expected COVID-19. No one saw the social unrest that has unfolded over the last several months. Another word would be uncertainty. It’s no surprise that unexpected events such as the ones we’ve experienced lead to uncertainty. Economic uncertainty. Health uncertainty. Emotional uncertainty. What can we do? What should we do? But even in the midst of these unexpected and uncertain times, I would include the word grateful. I’m grateful God has been faithful. Samuel sums it up well for me when he said, “So far, the Lord has helped us.” These unexpected and uncertain times have not caught Him off guard. I’m grateful for the spirit I’ve seen in Louisiana Baptists. You’ve been creative, stretching yourselves, utilizing unfamiliar technology for many of you, as you’ve continued to minister to each other and your communities. You have exhibited a God-honoring spirit that shows we may have been confined, but we were not contained. You cannot quarantine good news. I am grateful for your faithfulness … [Read more...]

By Stewart Holloway PINEVILLE, La. – When asked to engage in a new ministry, a pastor declined to even think about it saying, “We’re just waiting on this whole virus thing.” Essentially, this pastor and his church are doing nothing while a world crisis rages. That means they have lost five months of gospel impact while ministry is on pause. They are just sitting around waiting. I’m grateful that our church has decided not to do that. I do not see how any church CAN do that! The work of Christ must continue even in the midst of some of the oddest circumstances we have ever experienced. Like most churches, only about half of our people are back in person. At times that is discouraging (ok, it is always discouraging!), but then we hear of ministry happening outside the walls of the church - some of that in person but even more by phone, mail, and internet resources. Those reports encourage us that ministry is happening in multiple ways and places and lives are being touched. I am also encouraged by the giving of our people. In the middle of a pandemic and with half of our people still at home, we are closer to meeting budget at mid-year than I can remember. In addition, we have reduced our debt by almost $200,000. We have … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey We all know the need for patience. When I think of the fruit of the Spirit, I am drawn to the quality of patience. I am drawn there because I often feel so inadequate with patience. You may feel the same. Frustration and aggravation sometimes seem to take over. But, it may not be patience that I need. What I really need is perseverance. This is the meaning of the word we normally translate as patience. I need to persevere. I need to be long-suffering. I need to not quit and not give up. I need to stand strong under the pressure. Perseverance and long-suffering is exactly what I perceive that we all need right now. We need it in our lives, and we need it as the church. We have all worked hard to keep going since March 13, but we may be getting weary in well-doing. It’s natural for us to get weary. After all, if that were not the case, Paul would not have written to encourage us to keep working and serving. I want to encourage you to keep on. Don’t give up on yourself and don’t give up on Christ and His church. Be found faithful and obedient. These are tough days, but our God is faithful. He will see us through until we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Waylon Bailey is pastor of First Baptist … [Read more...]