By John Kennedy, State Treasurer Louisiana state government has at least 18,710 consultants on its payroll. I say "at least" because the sad fact is, according to the Legislative Auditor, the state doesn't even know the exact number of consultants it has, because there is no central database listing all of them. Furthermore, the database we do have has been changed by the Division of Administration to make it less transparent. Many of the state's consulting contracts could be eliminated, reduced or given to our universities in order to save taxpayer money. Below are a few of the consulting contracts you are paying for or have paid for in the past. There are many more: * Contract #2000121024; "Educational Guidance Services Contract;" New Orleans South Africa; $1,670,421. * Contract #702019; "Provide spiritual and religious guidance to inmates at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center and Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women and serve as imam (Muslim spiritual adviser);" Haneef Hanee Uqdah; $39,980. * Contract #733168; "Accompany and coordinate the travel of university officials to China for business meetings and serve as logistics coordinator and translator in China;" United Matrix International; $49,999.99. * Contract … [Read more...]

By Gene Mills, President of Louisiana Family Forum There is a movement in the Louisiana Legislature this session to bring principled, faith-based reform to this state’s criminal justice system. With gridlock and partisanship dominating the headlines at the state and federal level, criminal justice reform offers a unique moment to illustrate that bi-partisanship still exists. With justice reform, we focus on a common goal of restoring families and communities and bringing reliability to the rehabilitation process for those seeking restoration to society. Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the nation, a statistic that we should resolve to repair. Today, approximately 2.2 million Louisiana residents have a criminal record. To make matters worse, for too long we have had a penal system in place whose object is to punish rather than rehabilitate (low-level offenders) offenders with the object of successful re-entry into society. We should be working to promote a criminal justice system that anticipates and pursues the incredible transformation that occurs when an individual accepts responsibility for his or her actions before man and, by God’s grace, becomes a “new creation.” Providentially, a bipartisan group of … [Read more...]

By John Kennedy, State Treasurer I have a radical suggestion for you.  Let's pretend that we have a time-traveling DeLorean parked at the State Capitol and go back a few years. Specifically, let's go back to 2015.  Liquid water was found on Mars.  The Brits got a new royal baby.   And, in fiscal year 2015, the state general fund was $8.6 billion. The state general fund is basically the state’s main checking account.  It’s how income is deposited and the bills are paid.  For the most part, the state general fund doesn’t change a lot from year to year unless we’ve had a hurricane or a similar disaster that results in people rebuilding their homes and replacing their cars.  Post-storm years puff up the general fund, but they’re blips. The state general fund for next fiscal year – the state’s budget year runs from July 1 to June 30 – started at $8.2 billion.  Then legislators, at the governor’s behest, raised taxes $1.3 billion.  Everything from that cold beer you drink after mowing the grass to the Girl Scout cookies you buy from the neighbor’s kid is going up in price. But the governor’s not done.  He wants the general fund to stand at $10.2 billion, requiring an additional $750 million in tax increases or maybe it’s an … [Read more...]

By Joe C. Guthrie Law enforcement officers have been referred to as the Thin Blue Line, as they are our primary line of defense against anarchy and lawlessness. As a result of current apostate philosophies, law enforcement seems to be under attack by all segments of society. The three branches of government are outlined in Old Testament scripture. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. Isaiah 33:22 Law enforcement is the functional arm of the executive branch of government. Scripture plainly outlines the purpose and responsibilities of our law enforcement agencies. Romans 13 provides for the God mandated need for Godly oriented civil governments and purpose of law enforcement officers. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinances of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilth thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that … [Read more...]

By Randy Willis I got the idea for my headline from Dr. Roy Fish's wonderful book When Heaven Touched Earth: The Awakening of 1858 and Its Effects on Baptists.  Dr. Fish and I were both members of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph Willis Institute for Great Awakening Studies.  He was in declining health and was never able to attend a meeting. I only met him once and that was while he was having breakfast in the same hotel I was staying.  Dr. Rod Masteller introduced us.  Not long before his death I contacted him concerning how I could obtain a copy of his book. A few years ago someone asked me,  "Why did the 1858 revival skip Louisiana?" This was my answer.... In 1857, sixty years after my 4th great-grandfather Joseph Willis first preached Jesus, in the Louisiana Territory, and just three years after his death, materialism pervaded America.  The fact that the young were growing up without God, caused many Christians to begin to pray that God would break the love of money over people's lives and send another revival to the nation.  "Concerts of Prayer" began to spring up throughout the United States and Canada.  Materialism was broken in many lives by the Bank Panic of October 1857. Due to the long, hard winter of 1856-1857, … [Read more...]

By Randy Adams, Executive Director of Northwest Baptist Convention Thirty years ago this April I began my first pastorate. It was a dying church – dead really. Today we would call it a “legacy church plant.” There were ten people who attended our first Sunday, all but one retired, with the one being a teenage boy. I’m not sure why the boy was there, except that he lived on the other side of the cemetery. The cemetery, church, and a small school building, long since closed, bordered each other. The Thurmond family gave the property for these three entities in the 1890s, each deemed important for a community in those days. My wife and I served that church for 3 ½ formative years, formative for us and for that church and community. I soon learned that the former pastor recommended that the church disband and give the building to the local Baptist association. He had reasoned this was their best option since they hadn’t baptized anyone in four years, only had a Sunday morning worship service with few attenders, and little prospect of seeing things turn around. The few attenders, most of whom had lived there all their lives, considered his suggestion, but decided to give it “one more try,” which meant giving one more seminary … [Read more...]

By Ron F Hale The United States Declaration of Independence gushes with life liberating language supporting the sanctity of human life for all U.S. citizens. The second paragraph begins with these remarkable words: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. We can’t understand what it feels like to be born in a time when America was divided up between freeman and slave. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818, and escaped human bondage becoming a famous orator in the American antislavery movement. After serious study of the text of the Declaration of Independence, Douglass grew hopeful while other abolitionists assailed the document as bygone dribble. Douglass held high the precepts and promises of the Declaration of Independence and spoke truth to power. Like a Jonas Salk holding up his miracle vaccine against poliomyelitis (polio) before the American people on March 26, 1953, with all its curative promise, years before, Douglass held up the Declaration of Independence to all America and spoke so eloquently of its benefits and blessings (for … [Read more...]