By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MANDEVILLE – Tears rolled down the face of Ethel Jenkins as she gazed at students repairing the roof of her Mandeville home. The crew of 15 students and adults from World Changers modeled Christ’s love by painting, mowing the lawn and remodeling Jenkins’ home during the final week of June. “These young people just bring tears to my eyes every time I look at them,” said Jenkins. “Seeing them come and work on my home is something I never dreamed would ever happen to me. I thank God for using them to touch my life.” Jenkins’ home was one of 14 substandard houses improved by 207 students and adults from nine churches in Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The group worked June 25-29 on sites in 11 communities throughout the Northshore. Away from the worksites, the students and adults camped in the Sunday school classrooms and worshipped in the youth building at First Baptist Church in Covington. The students shared the Gospel with 26 people during prayer walks around the community that prompted one statement of belief, one act of repentance and 22 requests for prayer. Madison Cleveland, project director for the Northshore, said … [Read more...]
LC’s Hosanna worship band announces reunion concert
PINEVILLE – Former members of the Louisiana College Baptist Student Union worship band Hosanna will meet in late July to remember the early years of the group during a special weekend reunion. The Hosanna reunion weekend and concert July 21-22 will feature the band’s original members from 1981-84. The band began in 1981 and held its final concert in 1987. The reunion will begin at 9 a.m., Saturday, July 21, with a day full of rehearsals. Later that afternoon, Hosanna members and their families will tour the campus and head over to Kingsville Baptist Church in Ball for a catered supper. The following day the group will rehearse at Kingsville Baptist and their reunion concert will begin at 5 p.m., followed by a fellowship for the general public at the church. Deloy Chapman, who started the band with then-LC BCM Director John Moore, said he is anticipating reuniting with some members he has not seen since they graduated. “Looking back, we were young, idealistic college students who enjoyed spending time together and serving God,” said Chapman, who was a member of the group from 1981-84. “I know how busy college students are and I’m amazed we committed like we did. We’d practice two to three times a week and then we … [Read more...]
Resolutions, nominees for Louisiana Baptist posts sought
ALEXANDRIA (LBM) – Louisiana Baptists are invited to recommend candidates for service on state convention boards and committees, and, to submit resolutions for possible consideration by messengers at the 2018 Louisiana Baptist Convention. COMMITTEES The Louisiana Baptist Committee on Committees is conducting its work, Sept. 6, to nominate persons to serve on various state convention committees. Currently, 17 nominees are needed for service on committees for Credentials, Moral and Social Concerns, Nominations, Order of Business and Resolutions. The Committee on Committees chairman is Scott Sullivan, minister of education for the First Baptist Church in Haughton. Nominations for committees should be sent to him via U.S. Mail at the address of 105 East Washington Avenue, Haughton, LA 71037, or electronically to scott@fbchaughton.org. The deadline to receive inputs is August 18. BOARDS The Louisiana Baptist Committee on Nominations is beginning its work to fill vacancies on state boards. Currently, 19 nominees are needed to serve on the LBC Executive Board and as trustees of Louisiana College, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, the Baptist Message, and the Baptist Foundation. Andy Buckley, a … [Read more...]
Ann Hyatt remembered as encourager to Louisiana Baptists
Elizabeth “Ann” Hyatt, the wife of long-time Louisiana Baptist Convention director of church extension Leon Hyatt and a life-long encourager to Louisiana Baptists, passed away Wednesday, July 4. She was 90. Hyatt, a Louisiana College and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, began serving Louisiana Baptists at an early age. She collected pennies to help build Daddy Flowers Chapel on the campus of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home as a young person and shared the Gospel in prison, on the streets and on the Red River levee as a member of First Baptist Church in Pineville as a college student. While at Louisiana College, Hyatt met and married her husband, Leon. For the rest of her life, Hyatt encouraged her husband as her served on the Louisiana Baptist Convention staff and in churches. She also was active with ministry efforts when Main Street Mission in Pineville began, served as a trustee of the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and LBC Executive Board, was director of the Woman’s Missionary Union of North Rapides Baptist Association, taught English as a Second Language classes and participated in numerous mission trips. She is survived by her husband, Leon, who she was married to for 68 years, her … [Read more...]
Freedom beyond Independence Day
By Eddie Wren As a child I always referred to July 4 as simply “the fourth of July.” I really did not associate the holiday with freedom, but with watermelon, cookouts and mostly fireworks. But July 4 is Independence Day and I am grateful for the freedoms we have in this country and for those who have served in our armed services to protect those freedoms. Even so, there is a greater freedom we should celebrate. A freedom no king or army can provide. No amount of military might can secure this freedom, but only surrender. The freedom I am referring to is freedom in and through Christ Jesus. Romans 6:6-7 reads, “Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” Freedom is a word that is often used improperly. For example, many times people will use the words freedom in Christ to justify sinful behavior. But Christ was not crucified on the Cross to allow man to live any way that seems right in one’s own eyes. Jesus died to free us from sin. In freeing us from sin, Jesus has freed us to live an abundant, overflowing life only found in a relationship with Him. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I came that … [Read more...]
God answers prayers as miracle baby takes turn for the better
By Message Staff NEW ORLEANS – Newborn Elijah Kelly was on the brink on death just a week ago but the power of prayer has helped turn a seaming hopeless situation into one with promise. Kelly, who is the grandson of Gulf Coast Baptist Association Director of Missions Steven Kelly, was born June 6 and weighed four pounds, 13 ounces. Two days later, the doctors diagnosed him with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare condition that left the newborn with only three of four chambers of his heart working properly. Throughout the month, Kelly endured three open heart surgeries, a brain bleed, kidney dialysis and countless injections to help him in the fight of his young life at Children’s Hospital of New Orleans. Kelly even stopped breathing at one point, but the physicians and nursing staff were able to quickly resuscitate him. Now, Kelly has taken a turn for the better. Still critical, Kelly recently began to move his fingers, lift his hand and open his eyes. The condition of his kidney, brain and heart also have improved – all an answer to prayer for the thousands who have joined his parents, Adam and Ari, and other family and friends in this remarkable journey of faith. “We have a miracle here,” Steven Kelly … [Read more...]
Johnson introduces legislation defending religious expression
Washington, D.C. – Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson, a member of First Baptist Church, Bossier City, introduced H.R. 6213, the History and Tradition Protection Act of 2018, June 28 to combat the abuse of the establishment clause. The establishment clause was intended to serve as a shield for people of faith, but has been twisted and perverted into a powerful weapon to be used against them. “Religious symbols and expression are deeply embedded in the history and tradition of our country,” said Johnson, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee as well as the Committee on Natural Resources, “but for more than a half-century, radical secularist organizations have engaged in an aggressive campaign of fear, intimidation and disinformation in their quest to rid the public square of all religious symbols, history and expression. “We must protect the principles on which our nation was founded,” continued the first-term representative. “My legislation will ensure activists can no longer profit off the abuse of our laws, so we can better protect the religious liberties of all Americans.” Johnson’s bill abolishes the award of monetary damages and attorney fees in establishment clause cases where a plaintiff complains of (1) any … [Read more...]
Fleming selected for economic development post
By Message Staff Former U.S. Rep. John Fleming has been nominated by the Trump Administration to serve as assistant secretary of commerce for economic development. Fleming, who is a member of First Baptist Church in Minden, has long been a champion of faith-based and conservative values. According to a 2016 Baptist Message article, Fleming submitted or supported bills to: protect health entities that decline to provide, pay for or refer for abortions; defund Planned Parenthood, the largest U.S. abortion provider; prohibit public funds from paying for abortions; and require parental consent as a measure to prevent young girls from being transported across state lines for abortions. “Whether it’s national defense, right-to-life or the protection of First Amendment rights,” Fleming told the Baptist Message, “it’s my personal faith, my belief in Jesus Christ as my Savior and what I think he wants me to do that guides me in my decision-making.” Since 2017, Fleming has worked in President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services. He was Louisiana’s 4th District representative to the U.S. House from 2009 to 2017, and was unsuccessfully in a bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He lost in a runoff to U.S. Sen. John … [Read more...]
Louisiana Baptists are second largest group in Dallas
By Message Staff DALLAS (LBM) — Only Texas Baptists had a larger group of messengers than Louisiana Baptists at the annual meeting of Southern Baptists held in Dallas, Texas, June 12-13. Tennessee Baptists were the third in number. BY THE NUMBERS The event drew 9,637 messengers. By comparison, 5, 015 messengers were in Phoenix last year. Two hundred twenty-three Louisiana Baptist congregations sent 718 messengers – the largest out-of-state contingent of Louisiana Baptists to an SBC annual meeting in a decade. Only the 2012 gathering in New Orleans drew more Louisiana Baptists (943) during that time frame. The last time Southern Baptists held their annual meeting in Texas (Houston, 2013), only 383 Louisiana Baptists made the trip. Between 2013 and 2018, Louisiana Baptists averaged only about 190 messengers at the national convocation. Meanwhile, Texas Baptists numbered 2,036 in Dallas, and 615 Tennessee Baptists attended. MESSENGERS’ VIEWS Sandy Robertson attended the SBC with her husband, Philip, pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church in Deville and Alexandria, and a former president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. She said her favorite moment came during a speech by Vice President Mike Pence on … [Read more...]
Louisiana Baptists sink riverboat casino; take on key social issues
By Staff, Baptist Message BATON ROUGE (LBM) — Despite the heavy presence of paid lobbyists for the gambling industry, Louisiana Baptists secured a key victory against the casino interests of the state, helping to defeat Senate Bill 417 and its companion House Bill 438 and keeping a riverboat casino from moving to Tangipahoa Parish. The Senate defeated S.B. 417 by a vote of 15-18, needing 20 votes to pass, whereas H.B. 438 did not make it out of the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. Both proposed allowing an existing riverboat casino to relocate from Bossier City to the Tangipahoa River along I-12. However, a coalition of pastors, led by David Cranford, First Baptist Church in Ponchatoula, and Louis Husser, Crossgate Church in Robert, mobilized the community and testified in both chambers of the legislature to help sink both bills. Likewise, Sherman Mack, chairman of the ACJ Committee, and a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Albany, gave leadership to defeat H.B. 438 and to keep it from coming back up during the regular legislative session. Cranford told the Baptist Message “the Lord blessed and we are grateful” with Husser adding “it was a ‘David and Goliath’ scenario.” “We stood firm as … [Read more...]
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