By Staff, Baptist Message Ken Hemphill, noted author, pastor and Southern Baptist leader will make three visits in Louisiana at the end of March. Hemphill is a candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and will be officially nominated during the 2018 SBC Annual Meeting, June 12-13, in Dallas, Texas. On March 27 Hemphill will speak during the 11 a.m. chapel service at Louisiana College in the Martin Performing Arts Center. Later that day, 6:30 p.m., he will meet with Louisiana Baptists at McClendon Baptist Church in West Monroe. Wednesday, March 28, he will be the featured speaker at a noon event at the First Baptist Church in Bossier City. A free lunch will be served and registration is requested by e-mailing lorine@firstbossier.com. The chapel service will be livestreamed at lacollege.edu/content/livestream-chapel-spring-2018. The First Bossier luncheon will be streamed live on the church’s Facebook page, facebook.com/firstbossier. According to a prior Baptist Message report, Hemphill has an established record of commitment to Southern Baptists, having served as president of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as in leadership roles with the North American Mission Board, … [Read more...]

By John Marcase PINEVILLE (LBM) – When Stewart Holloway took over as pastor of First Baptist Church Pineville in August 2008 he saw an empty gymnasium and had a vision of it being filled with Upward Basketball teams. But, his vision remained just that – year after year. Until, finally, someone stepped up to lead the program – a person Holloway was not expecting to take on that leadership role. “I kept putting it off and putting it off,” said Kathy Holloway, Stewart Holloway’s mother. “Finally, I told Stewart that I didn’t want to get to Heaven and have God say to me, ‘Well, they still don’t have Upward Basketball at First Baptist,” she said. “As the pastor’s mother, I wanted to give someone else the opportunity,” she explained. “I’m fortunate that (God) gave me the ability to work with people,” she continued, emphasizing that with any ministry effort, “The key is finding people to help.” GIFTED & CALLED “It’s obvious there was some ‘call’ in there – that she felt she needed to do it and use her gifts,” said Stewart. And Kathy Holloway’s gifts were tailor-made for running a basketball program. Kathy Holloway was a standout basketball player for Poland High School in rural Rapides Parish, leading … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer GEORGETOWN – The newly constructed worship center at Georgetown Baptist Church represents more than just a building, serving as a spiritual hub for this community of 350. Dedicated March 4, the 5,600-sq.-ft. facility seats 256 – enough to accommodate the growing number of worshippers on Sunday mornings. Since moving into the building, attendance has averaged 140, a 28 percent increase from the 117 who were worshipping each week in the early part of last year. The church also has baptized 50 new believers in the last four years, including 10 in 2017. “God is at work in our rural communities,” Pastor Carl Griffith told the Baptist Message. “We have seen an influx of young married couples with young children at Georgetown Baptist Church. These families have joined our congregation, and, they have become actively involved in our church work, which has led to further growth. “We see our new sanctuary as an opportunity for our ministry right now, but this new building also represents for us an opportunity to preserve ministry in Georgetown into the future,” Griffith said. “We are thankful for the growth and how God has blessed and moved in our small community. This building gives … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer WOODWORTH – Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director/treasurer of the Woman’s Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention, will challenge ladies attending the upcoming Louisiana Baptist WMU Mission Celebration to embrace their God-given mandate to fulfill His purpose. Scheduled for April 13-14 at Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth, the event will highlight how women are participating in what God is doing in the state, North America and around the world. The meeting’s theme is “Embrace,” based on Esther 4:14b. “Young Queen Esther, with human trepidation and courageous faith in God, approached the king to make a bold request that would save her Hebrew people,” said Janie Wise, women’s missions and ministry strategist for Louisiana Baptists. “God equipped her for the moment and for the mission. That is where women are in this day – living in a world, in a state, where we are surrounded by the lost, the lonely and the hurting. “We find ourselves making bold requests of the Father,” she continued. “But He is faithful and He has equipped us.  He has “’made [us] queen for such a time as this.’” The event kicks off Friday evening with dinner at 5 p.m. and a … [Read more...]

By Victor Villavieja PINEVILLE (LBM) – D.A. Horton, pastor of Reach Fellowship in North Long Beach, Calif., led Louisiana College’s revival March 6-8, urging students to find their identity in Christ. Horton, Chief Evangelist for the Urban Youth Workers Institute, warned that searching elsewhere will lead to a dissatisfying life. “This new generation of believers struggles with the issue of identity. They are trying to find themselves, and they are trying to find who they are, and sometimes they root their identity in their experience and in their preferences,” Horton explained. “I help them understand that their identity can be found in the finished work of Jesus,” he continued. “It allows them to live out[side] this cloud of uncertainty.” Horton underscored that “Jesus meets us wherever we are,” contrasting that biblical truth with the endless search people make in trying to find themselves in possessions, or status, or accomplishments. The three services, held at the Martin Performing Arts Center, were based on different focal passages, but each emphasized God’s immeasurable capacity to forgive and wash away the human sin. “You can never ‘out-sin’ the bloodshed of Jesus Christ,” said Louisiana College … [Read more...]

By Victor Villavieja PINEVILLE (LBM) — Louisiana College senior Lievin Manisha returned to Africa on a mission trip last Christmas break. The student from Burundi took part in an expedition that visited one of the biggest settlements of refugees in Central Africa, Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda, where he helped distribute backpacks to school kids, and buckets and water filters to over 100 families. Importantly, he also used the opportunity to share the Gospel with some of his 8,000 expatriated Burundian compatriots living in Nakivale. “I was very touched. I encouraged them to keep going,” Manisha recalled. “I told them that I had been in their shoes; that I am not better than them. I told them not to give up.” It was Manisha’s first visit to Africa since he moved to the United States in 2014. Manisha was 6 years old when he lost his family in the civil war between the two predominant Burundian ethnicities - the Hutu majority, and the Tutsi minority. In June 1993, after 25 years of Tutsi totalitarian regimes, Burundi’s first multi-party elections were held, and Melchior Ndadaye became the first democratically elected Hutu president. Four months later, Tutsi extremists assassinated Ndadaye and violence broke out … [Read more...]

By Josh Landry, Wildcats Media PINEVILLE (LCNews) -- Louisiana College’s production of “The Music Man” starts this weekend and continues through next weekend The Tony nominated musical written by Meredith Willson opens Friday March 16 at 7 p.m. in LC’s Martin Performing Arts Center. Performance dates for the 1957 Tony-nominated musical are March 16,17 and 23, 24 at 7 p.m. and March 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. “The Music Man” is a musical comedy about a traveling salesman who is actually a con artist, and he gathers people in the town of Somewhere, Iowa to jump on board with him to create a boy band. Played by LC senior Jeremy Manuel, “The Music Man” uses what he calls “the think system,” wherein the con man listens to a tune and then is able to play it. Associate Professor of Theater Tabitha Huffman said the inspiration to perform the play came from band uniforms donated by Pineville High School, which had purchased new ones. “I got to raid their band closet,” Huffman said. “We have been holding on to the band uniforms because we need them for the boy band in the musical.” Huffman, who performed in “The Music Man” in high school, is directing the play and starring as Mrs. Paroo, the mother of the main character … [Read more...]

PINEVILLE (LCNews) --Louisiana College now accepts the Classic Learning Test as an alternative to the ACT and SAT for certain students. And LC is slated as a test site for the April 17 Classic Learning Test (CLT). Louisiana’s TOPS program still requires the ACT or SAT, however. “Louisiana College is very pleased to announce our acceptance of the CLT as an option to other college entrance exams,” said Rick Brewer, president of LC. “We are particularly pleased to see many prestigious institutions from across the United States such as Hillsdale College, The King’s College, and Houston Baptist University among the dozens now accepting the Classic Learning Test.” Many of these institutions offer academic scholarships for students who test well on the CLT, and Louisiana College will be no exception, Brewer said. The CLT is “accessible to students from any educational background that elevates the good, the true, and the beautiful,” states CLTexam.com. “The ancient Greek philosophers stressed the same basic ideas about education that homeschool parents and classical school educators affirm today. How students learn to think, what they read, and how they live are all intricately connected. Many homeschooled students who have … [Read more...]

By Norm Miller, LCNews PINEVILLE (LCNews) -- Louisiana College’s Preview Day attendance has seen exponential growth since 2014, growing from double- to triple-digits. With more than 120 high school students registered for the March 24 event, Preview Day registration continues to steadily grow. “We shifted the start time from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” said Vice President for Enrollment Management Fred Holt. “This makes Preview Day more convenient for our visitors who live several hours away from LC, such as those traveling from neighboring states or southeast Louisiana.” Previous days have drawn people from Colorado, California, Nevada, and as far away as Hawaii. “The growing awareness of Louisiana College’s turnaround is one reason for the increasing Preview Day attendance,” said LC President Rick Brewer. “Our innovative strategies of a flat rate tuition, creative scholarships, and the history of our outstanding academics all have intersected to bring the college further into a favorable light. These, among other reasons, are why our total enrollment for this spring is 18 percent more than last spring.” High school students of all grades, as well as transfer students, may attend Preview Day, which provides an overview … [Read more...]