By Norm Miller, Louisiana College communications ALEXANDRIA --More than 250 freshmen from Louisiana College completed their Wildcats Welcome Week by assisting the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, Aug. 20. Students packed boxes for the Adopt-a-Senior Program that provides 50 pounds of food a month for senior citizens. Others put food in backpacks for public school students who need food for weekends throughout the school year. Some students packed emergency food boxes for those struggling with hunger in central Louisiana. “Hopefully, their experience here will encourage them to serve and support hunger relief causes wherever their lives take them,” said Jayne Wright-Velez, executive director at the Food Bank. Several students also worked in the Food Bank’s Good Food Project demonstration garden. “This group has been exceptionally cooperative, very polite, and very willing to take direction. The work they’ve done to the beds and putting mulch down has been a phenomenal gift, and we appreciate them very much,” said Frances Boudreaux, director of the garden. “I think it’s important to help people because Jesus helped people when he was on this Earth. That’s just part of being a Christian,” said physical education … [Read more...]

ALEXANDRIA – Horseshoe Drive Baptist Church celebrated its last service Aug. 21 in the recently renewed and updated facilities -- in anticipation of re-launching as a revitalized congregation Sept. 18. “This was our final service as ‘Horseshoe Drive Baptist Church’ and we treated it as a homecoming,” said Robert Daniel, interim pastor and director of missions for Central Louisiana Baptist Association. “We celebrated our legacy, but also rejoiced over the future God is unfolding for us as a re-born family of faith.” “We worshiped God and took time to recognize His work through so many who have contributed to this ministry since Nov. 16, 1958,” Daniel added. The service provided a point of closure, he explained, but also set the stage for the reboot of the congregation in the community. Sept. 18, the campus will be re-launched as Philadelphia Baptist Church, Horseshoe Drive. … [Read more...]

My Marilyn Stewart, NOBTS public relations BATON ROUGE, La. -- For Southern Baptist chaplains serving with the Louisiana National Guard, the historic August flooding that widely impacted the state was different from anything they had seen before and at the same time, all too familiar. Brigade Chaplain Page Brooks, of the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary faculty member, said that even though the water did not come from a named storm, the devastation was much the same. “This reminds me of other natural disasters, the sense of loss, of panic, and hurt that Louisianans have experienced before,” Brooks said. “There’s just such surprise.” Upwards of 31 inches fell in a day’s time in the hardest hit areas of Livingston Parish, according to an Aug. 16 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. Brooks said some evacuees reported having less than three hours to prepare or had been out of town as the water came in. Some lived in places that had never before flooded, he added. National Guard chaplains care for the caregivers and first responders who plucked people out of raging water and rescued people off rooftops. Of the chaplains led by Major Brooks from Jackson … [Read more...]

PRIORITY ITEMS NEEDED IN FLOOED AREAS. ANY OF THESE ITEMS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY FLOOD VICTIMS. Food Items: Water Bread Peanut butter and jelly Canned foods that can be eaten cold from can Breakfast Cereal Oatmeal and/or Grits Coffee Ladie’s Products: Maxi pads Deodorant Underwear Bras T-shirts (white if possible) Socks Hair brushes Towels /Wash cloths Men’s Products: Deodorant Shaving supplies T-shirts Athletic style shorts Towels /Wash cloths Cleaning needs: Bleach Rubber boots (for both ladies and men) - GREAT NEED Masks Heavy duty latex gloves All cleaning products Buckets and mops Many fans and/or dehumidifiers to help dry out Garbage bags Tables Plus size clothing People aren’t ready for any furniture items at this time.   … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor COVINGTON – The decision does not come easily for Johnny Huffman of Fairhaven Ministry. But after seeing the misery and suffering caused by the recent flooding, he will not be sending a Christmas shipping container to Romania for the first time “in 15 years or 16 years.” “I, with the blessing of others involved, have decided not to ship to Romania in November this year,” said Huffman. “For many who help with the Christmas boxes, we will be directing all of those assets to helping children in the flooded areas at Christmas this year. “Under the present circumstances, I believe it is the right thing to do,” he said. While the historic flooding did not affect Huffman and his ministry at Fairhaven, he recognizes a lot of people are hurting at the moment. “So many who have had their lives completely changed in the past two weeks due to the flooding in South Louisiana. I want to assure everyone our prayers and thoughts are with everyone,” Huffman said. “But we also desire to help as The Lord makes it possible.” With his considerable contacts across the country and around the world, Huffman is putting the word out for any assistance people can provide. “To all my friends and … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter EAST BATON ROUGE -- Mary Cupit, 81, awoke to banging on her bedroom window in East Baton Rouge during the early hours of Aug. 14 as the new neighbor next door, Chad Tyrone, 24, knocked frantically to warn her about the rising water. By the time Mary roused her caregiver—her deaf brother Donald Cupit, 73—he had time only to throw on some clothes and grab his wallet and keys before helping his sister into a waiting car filled with neighbors they barely knew. The drive to safety took them to Tyrone’s grandmother’s house where the Cupits were welcomed as family. Five weeks earlier racial tensions had torn Baton Rouge apart. But that Sunday race did not matter. Though his first efforts to rouse his neighbor had failed, Tyrone, a Christian and an African-American, could not leave his neighbors behind. “He told me, ‘Mama, I’ve got to try one more time,’” his mother Theora Tyrone recounted of her son’s insistence as water rose in the street. “He’s always had a big heart.” Having lived only two months in the neighborhood near I-12 and Airline Hwy in Baton Rouge, Tyrone had spoken to Mary Cupit only briefly prior to the flood when he offered to mow the Cupits’ lawn. He learned later of … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer CENTRAL -- God’s people can be used to bring about hope to the community and experience revival, Tony Perkins said during a morning worship service at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church in Baton Rouge Sunday morning. Perkins, interim pastor with the Greenwell Springs congregation and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian public policy ministry, Family Research Council, encouraged worshipers they had an opportunity to make a difference for thousands of flood victims devastated with the loss of homes and businesses. “What God has given to you give freely to others, whether that be your resources or your time or your treasure,” Perkins said during his Aug. 21 message, “Searching for God in the Storm.” “This, my friends, could be the moment that you and I have been praying for in this church,” he said. “Sometimes God answers prayers in ways that we don’t expect nor do we want.” “But we’ve been praying for revival, we’ve been praying that we would reach this community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the hope that comes from knowing Him,” he explained. “This may be our moment, if you and I will have hearts of gratitude, minds of obedience and souls of … [Read more...]

Leading up to a celebration of the 500th anniversary of the printing of the Bible in the Belarusian language in 2017, Andrew and Inna Ryzhkov participated in a recent ceremony at the Library of Congress to donate a facsimile edition of the Bible. The couple on Aug. 11 met with Raman Matulski, the Director of the National Library of Belarus, to donate the Francysk Skaryna’s facsimile editions of the 500-year-old Bible in the Belarussian language. They also donated the Good & Evil illustrated Bible to the Jefferson Library for the European Reading Room. Next year, the celebration will include Bible exhibitions, regional conferences on the impact of the Bible on European cultural and historical development, Bible distribution and open outreach ministries in public schools, universities and public arenas. Since 2015, Louisiana Baptist churches have participated in mission teams in the country, in partnership with Byelorussian Mission, founded by the Ryzhkovs. By 2018, plans are to have visited all six provinces in Belarus, at a rate of two per year. For more information on how your church can participate in this ministry, contact Wayne Sheppard, Executive Assistant to the Executive Director for Louisiana Baptists, at … [Read more...]

Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has published a scathing open letter criticizing Pres. Obama for his absence from flood-ravaged Louisiana, especially for vacationing all the while in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. A beloved Southern Baptist pastor and former Arkansas governor, Huckabee shamed the president for his “hustle and bustle of golf, having ice cream and strolling the quaint streets of the Vineyard” while Louisianans endure an “apocalyptic event.” Meanwhile New York businessman Donald Trump and his running mate Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, the Republican ticket for the 2016 presidential election, visited Louisiana Friday, going to Greenwell Springs Baptist Church in Baton Rouge to comfort flood victims and encourage disaster relief workers. Former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, the Democrat candidate for president, issued a statement via Facebook indicating she will delay coming to the Bayou State for the time being from in order not to be a “distraction” during the “relief effort.” The full text of Gov. Huckabee’s open letter is provided below. ----------------------------------------------- Dear Mr. President: How’s the vacation going on Martha’s Vineyard? Pretty swell … [Read more...]

The Woman's Missionary Union of Homewood Baptist Church in Alexandria provided purses filled with personal hygiene items to the ladies of Hope House in the city Aug. 18. The ladies also took snacks for the children residing at the facility. … [Read more...]