Marcio Alexandre de Moraes Santos, executive director of the Minas Gerais State Baptist Convention, recently presented medallions to Wayne Jenkins and Dwight Lowrie for their work in evangelism in Brazil. They were recognized in late July during the annual Brazil mission trip among the top 100 influential persons in the area of evangelism in Brazil. The medallion marks 100 years of Baptist work in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Jenkins, who retired in early 2018 as evangelism and church growth director for Louisiana Baptists, has now led 34 mission trips to Brazil. Lowrie has helped coordinated the trip for many years and is pastor of Liberty-Eylau Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. This year's trip resulted in 3,212 people who accepted Christ as their personal Savior. The Baptist Message will have a story on the mission trip in the Aug. 23 edition. Photo by Craig Beeman. … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA/PINEVILLE – More than 400 middle and high school students stepped out of their comfort zones to share the Gospel during the recent M-FUGE mission camp. Throughout the week of July 9-14, Good News seeds were planted by the students by going door-to-door and holding Bible clubs in area parks. The students from churches in Louisiana and six other states enjoyed a time of worship and Bible study at Louisiana College in Pineville each morning and then dispersed into smaller teams as they worked at their assigned sites. Some students presented the Gospel in the afternoons to community members while others sorted through donated clothing, renovated a church building and packed boxes at the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. “For the second year, Louisiana College was pleased to partner with Lifeway’s M-FUGE serving as a host site for over 400 high school students,” LC President Rick Brewer told the Baptist Message. “These students from SBC churches across Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana had a transformational worship and work experience while in Central Louisiana. It’s our desire to expand this partnership with LifeWay to offer four weeks of M-FUGE … [Read more...]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you have a Revival, Homecoming, a new pastor, a community outreach or a concert? The Baptist Message would love to share your church news with the rest of the state. It is very easy to do, just send in your information (who, what, where and when) to philip@baptistmessage.com or call 318.449.4345. To get your event in the paper, please submit your information three weeks prior to the event. ON THE MOVE Doyle L. Adams was recognized on April 27, 2018 for his 60th year in the ministry at a ceremony at Lone Cherry Baptist Church, Mangham, where he is presently pastoring. For his long, faithful service, he received a plaque from the Louisiana Baptist Pastoral Leadership team and also was recognized by the Richland Baptist Association. During his career, he has preached at Antioch Baptist Church, Rayville; North Central Baptist Church, Delhi, Forty Necessity Baptist Church, Fort Necessity; Lone Cherry; Coax Baptist Church, Baskin; First Baptist Church, Gilbert. Trey, wife Jessica, Etheridge is the new Pastor of Worship and Discipleship at First Baptist Church, Jonesboro.  He was formerly the pastor of Briarwood Baptist Church in Reidheimer. Michael Hawley will retire as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer CROIX DES BOUQUETS, Haiti – Cole Permenter was helping to lead a training conference for 140 Haitian pastors when the large-scale social unrest exploded in Port-Au-Prince late Friday, July 7. During the next two days, Permenter and the other members of a Louisiana Baptist team heard sporadic gunfire and saw smoke rise in the distance while sheltered inside their secure missionary compound in Croix des Bouquets, on the outskirts of the capital city. But prayers from many around the world and assurance from their leaders kept them at ease in the less-than-ideal circumstances. “Our excellent leaders, Tommy Middleton, Darrin Badon and Stan Statham, brought the team together for a briefing and began to tell us about what was going on,” said Permenter, pastor of Bluff Creek Baptist Church in Clinton. “It is because of their leadership our team was able to remain calm and still be eager for what was to come. “We coveted the prayers of all our brothers and sisters stateside,” continued Permenter, who boarded a return flight back to the U.S. with his team Tuesday, July 10. “It’s an amazing feeling to know that the church was united in their prayers for us. “We were overwhelmed by the … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer WEST MONROE – While state Rep. Frank Hoffmann awaited the birth of his new granddaughter in a Texas hospital July 11, he shared some thoughts with the Baptist Message about his personal mission to protect the unborn. LOUISIANA LEADER A long-time pro-life supporter, Hoffmann has used his tenure in the Louisiana legislature to push through key pro-life bills, for instance, preventing insurance companies in the state from offering coverage of elective abortions, and, requiring abortion clinics in Louisiana to post information informing women about the alternatives to abortion. Most recently, he championed House Bill 891, now Act 498, prohibiting Louisiana from transferring any public funds to an abortion provider, or, to any entity tied “physically [shared facility] or financially” to an abortion provider. The significance of the legislation became clear when Governor John Bel Edwards signed the legislation into law May 23 just hours after a U.S. District judge ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit to force the state Department of Health and Hospitals to issue a license to perform abortions in the same New Orleans facility where Medicaid funded “family planning” … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MANDEVILLE – Former University of Kentucky football star Dicky Lyons believed his life was headed in the right direction, that is until he met church planter Sam Cirrincione at a Mandeville coffee shop in early 2017. Lyons quickly discovered through this meeting and follow-up conversations that he needed a Savior. Four months after meeting with Cirrincione for coffee, Lyons and his wife, Mindy, were convicted of their need for Christ, committed their lives to Him and celebrated a new life in Jesus through baptism at the Field Church in Mandeville. Lyons and his wife are two of 54 new converts baptized at the Field Church since its first worship service Sept. 11, 2016. Cirrincione said he is thankful to see how God has used the new believers to bring about a wave of growth at the Field Church. “It’s emotional to see the baptisms,” Cirrincione said. “We are seeing these families raise their own children built on a solid foundation that is centered on Christ. To see them loving and following Jesus is a praise to God.” PERSONAL ENCOUNTER “I had questions about the church plant the day I met Sam and through that process I started to find a relationship with Jesus,” he said. … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Editor DALLAS (LBM)—Sammy Tippit is a soul winner, doing whatever it takes to bring others to Christ and to grow them in their faith. He continues to do the hard work of door-to-door outreach for one-on-one Gospel conversations, but also is on the cutting edge of technology, using Skype to conduct evangelistic events to remote regions overseas to bring the Good News about Jesus to tens of thousands of lost people. On top of that, his daily discipleship videos generate 6.5 million views each month, reaching men and women around the world in 10 languages, including English, Punjabi, Arabic and Spanish. As the newly elected president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, Tippit said he hopes to use his influence to revive the focus on evangelism that once thrived among the denomination’s churches and entities. CAJUN CONNECTIONS Tippit told the Baptist Message his worldwide ministry started in Baton Rouge. “I was saved in 1965 at an evangelistic harvest event at Istrouma Baptist Church and I surrendered to preach two nights later,” he said. “I was a freshman at LSU at the time. My pastor was J. Garland McKee, and I knew nothing about the Bible at the time. I was just this … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS – It takes a lot to fill 5,000 backpacks. But collecting supplies, enlisting hundreds of volunteers, and arranging event details all in a month’s time, might take a miracle. Kay Bennett, director of the Baptist Friendship House (BFH), led 165 volunteers, July 13, to fill 2,000 backpacks for school age children, 1,500 for the homeless, and 1,500 for survivors of human trafficking. With the BFH gym packed with people and supplies, the backpacks were filled in about two hours. “It worked like clockwork,” Bennett said. “I could not have asked for it to work better. It’s just amazing to see what we can do when we work together.” Some backpacks were distributed to the homeless that afternoon. Backpacks filled with school supplies were handed out the next day, July 14, at BFH’s annual Back-to-School Bash. With 600 filled backpacks typical for the back-to-school event, Bennett said she wondered if she had lost her mind after accepting the North American Mission Board’s Send Relief offer of 5,000. “I should have known God would provide,” Bennett chided herself after the successful event. “He’s always faithful.” In assembly-line formation, volunteers from 16 … [Read more...]