WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-Alto) has urged the Senate to pass Sen. Bill Cassidy's health care plan. A physician practicing family medicine for more than 20 years, Abraham voiced his support for the proposed piece of legislation that would repeal and replace Obamacare. "When Senate leadership threw in the towel and gave up on repealing Obamacare, Louisiana’s senior senator Bill Cassidy kept pushing, and I applaud his efforts to remove Washington from my exam room,” Abraham said in a news release. “His plan repeals nearly $1 trillion in taxes, which paves the way for true tax reform. It gives money back to the states to construct health care plans that work for their patients, scrapping the one-size-fits-all Obamacare mandate. It defunds Planned Parenthood. Passing this bill would allow the House to possibly strengthen it even further. “Let’s be clear: This is our last opportunity to end Obamacare as we know it,” said Abraham, a member of Alto Baptist Church. “While Democrats are debating whether to keep the failed status quo or adopt a socialist single-payer government takeover of health care, Bill Cassidy and I are doing what we can to provide patients with choices in their health care. Sen. Cassidy’s plan takes … [Read more...]

By Message Staff FORT MYERS, Fla. – A Louisiana Baptist feeding team is hard at work in Fort Myers, Fla., preparing nearly 15,000 meals in a five-day period for Hurricane Irma victims. The team of 15 from Northshore Baptist Association and other southeast Louisiana associations began working out of Riverside Baptist Church Sept. 15. Freddie Arnold, blue hat for the team, told the Baptist Message they have prepared between 500 and 1,300 meals for lunch and supper, and expects that number to increase as each day passes. Joining the feeding team is a shower and laundry unit from Mount Olive Association, water purification unit from a First Baptist Church in Mangham and a generator from Rolling Hills Ministry. Since they are not working in neighborhoods hit hard by Irma, Arnold said team members for the most part are unable to interact directly with residents of the community. However, he said people they have encountered have expressed appreciation for their efforts. “As we were coming in on the interstate, people were blowing their horns, rolling down their car windows and saying thank you for being here,” Arnold said. “So they definitely know about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Since we have been through this … [Read more...]

By Message Staff After hearing his pastor share about the need for ministry for Hurricane Harvey victims in early September, Mickey Watson felt led to form a team with other members of Amite Baptist Church. For several weeks, teams from the church traveled to Texas, cooking meals, gutting homes and delivering supplies. Like many other Louisiana Baptist churches, Amite Baptist Church in Denham Springs spent two days working on homes in Beaumont, Texas. Watson said the effort was a way for their church to bless the people of Texas, much like they were blessed when teams came to help in the recovery process last year following historic flooding in south Louisiana. “Over half of the people that traveled from Amite to Texas to assist with the cleanup flooded last year and our hearts knew exactly what these people were going through,” Watson told the Baptist Message. “We just loved being able to show the love that God showed us and to returned a big thanks. “Our ministry last year lasted a little over two weeks and we fed more than 16,000 meals basically from my driveway and delivered them daily to neighborhoods and gave them away at the church,” he continued. “We realized how much a plate of fresh food meant. We were … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer PORT ARTHUR, Texas – Surveying the estimated $300,000 worth of damage  Hurricane Harvey caused his church facilities, Pastor Rick Erwin maintained an attitude of gratitude as he thought about the army of volunteers, including two Louisiana Baptist churches, sent to help Proctor Baptist Church in Port Arthur, Texas, begin its path to recovery. “Had it not been for the volunteers that came in and helped us, I think we would have had to close the doors,” Erwin told the Baptist Message. “This is tremendously hard work. We’ve stepped up and said God is with us, this is His church and not ours. There is no measure of thanks we can express to Christians who came and helped us..” Searcy Baptist Church in Trout and United Baptist Church in Jena sent a team of eight people to the church Sept. 12 and 13. While there, they removed damp carpet, cut out tiles and carried debris to the street. The team also brought cleaning supplies and $1,500 worth of monetary donations they gifted the church. Reid Terry, pastor of Searcy Baptist Church, said from the onset of news reports that large areas of Texas were flooded, his congregation asked how they could make a difference. When Terry learned from … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer VINTON – The news her Vinton home flooded for the second time in 18 months was disheartening for Sarah Going. But just when her will to continue was about to break, God sent Going not just one, but two church teams Sept. 9 to gut out her home which was took in water in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. By the time teams from New Hope Baptist Church in Dequincy and Twin Bridges Baptist Church in Alexandria had finished the job later that day, Going and her husband, Charles, were left encouraged for the difficult path that lies ahead. "When my husband and I pulled up to our home, there were vehicles parked all around the street," a teary-eyed Going, the pianist for New Hope Baptist Church, told the Baptist Message. "A lady from Twin Bridges told me her name, held my hand and encouraged me by reminding me what I still had, even though things could have been so much worse," Going continued. "She said my family is still alive and I still have a lot of what I owned since my church showed up before the floods to help move everything out. She was reminding me of my blessings I still had and that she was available to talk anytime I needed." STRENGTH IN NUMBERS The effort to gut … [Read more...]

By Message Staff Two training sessions are scheduled for Louisiana Baptists wanting to serve on disaster relief teams for responses to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Westside Baptist Church in Natchitoches will host a training session 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18. After a general session that includes watching three videos, individuals will break into small groups for training in one of three areas – feeding, mud-out or shower and laundry. The training begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m. Leaders for the training include Jack Ingram, a member of Westside Baptist Church, David Cheatwood, director of ministries for Rolling Hills Ministry in Ruston, and Ron Thompson, director of missions for District 8 Baptist Convention. The following week, Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport will hold a training session for individuals wanting to serve on feeding and mud-out teams. Scheduled for 5:30-8:45 p.m. Sept. 28, the sessions will be led by Gibbie McMillan, state director for Louisiana Baptists Disaster Relief, and Marvin Leleux, pastor of Springhill Baptist Church in Ringgold. First-time attendees will pay $28, which includes a background check, training materials, ID badge, hat and shirt. Those already certified but … [Read more...]

By Cole Avery, Office of U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham WASHINGTON – Three airports across Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District will receive about $19.8 million in grant funding awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-Alto) announced Tuesday, Sept. 12. The England Economic and Industrial Development District in Alexandria stands to receive the bulk of the funding, banking $17,867,492 from four grants, though airports in Monroe and Vidalia will also receive some money from grants. The money comes as part of the airport’s involvement in the Airport Improvement Program’s Military Airport Program, a designation Abraham helped the airport achieve so that it could help facilitate missions associated with the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. “Alexandria and its airport provide important services that directly contribute to the mission of the Fort Polk Joint Readiness Training Center,” said Abraham, a member of Alto Baptist Church. “Showing continued investments in public infrastructure that support Alexandria and Fort Polk will show the military our community’s commitment to the success of Fort Polk, which will help make sure we continue to have a thriving base in the region,” said … [Read more...]

By Message Staff Three days after Hurricane Irma made landfall in the U.S., the first Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief teams are headed to Florida. Northshore Baptist Association feeding unit, a Mount Olive Association shower and laundry unit, a First Baptist Church in Mangham water purification unit and a Rolling Hills Ministry generator left First Baptist Church in Slidell Wednesday morning, Sept. 13, Louisiana Baptists State Disaster Relief Director Gibbie McMillan told the Baptist Message.. They will be stationed at Riverside Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Fla. McMillan reiterated the importance of all Louisiana Baptists praying, giving and going to get the job done in areas hit hard by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. “Many are in Texas and others are in Florida helping, while a host of faithful ones are praying and giving,” he said. “Thanks to all who are doing what they can. This is a picture of the church on the move. As you give, remember our entire budget comes from the Georgia Barnette Offering. Please pray and give.” According to North American Mission Board statistics, the response by Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams to areas impacted by Harvey through Sept. 12 teams has resulted in 810,292 meals … [Read more...]

By Message Staff LAFAYETTE – The relief efforts by Evangeline Baptist Association churches has truly been a team effort. Not only after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and then again in Louisiana, churches in the association along with assistance from numerous non-profit organizations and churches from other denominations have coordinated a response to help those impacted by the storm. First Baptist Church in Lafayette served as a collection site, receiving 6.5 tons, or $42,000 worth, of supplies, Pastor Steve Horn told the Baptist Message. The supplies filled 26 pallets in a semi which transported the items to First Baptist Church in Vidor, Texas. Horn said he and his congregation have applied Titus 3:14 to areas of service and their daily lives and the response to Harvey relief efforts was such a time they could place the words of the verse into action. "This was one of those occasions when we saw our church and others do this," Horn said. "This has also given us a primary point of contact to do continued ministry in Vidor, where we have a team now doing mud-out work." Horn added that past connections were used in the collection effort. The driver and truck were donated by a trucking company in … [Read more...]