BOSSIER CITY – This year’s annual meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention will be held at First Baptist Church in Bossier City on Nov. 9-10, 2015. In order for a church to participate in the business of the convention, they will need to elect messenger(s) to represent them. Messengers elected by their respective church are then able to register and participate in the business of the convention. The Credentials Committee oversees the registration process for the annual meeting. Roger Johnson, LBC Credentials Committee Chairman, notes there are five ways that messengers may be certified to participate and vote at this year’s annual convention. The first and simplest way is for messengers to pre-register using the LBC online program, print out their registration card, and bring the card to the annual meeting. Pre-registration in this way allows messengers to be certified within a matter of minutes, Johnson said. Second, messengers may bring a letter  from their church on official stationary stating they are elected messengers. This will allow them to register and be certified to vote. Third, a church officer can phone in the names of elected messengers. Fourth, verification by a fellow registered church … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BOSSIER CITY – Pastors will be encouraged to remember the pursuit of their calling during this year’s Pastors’ Conference. Scheduled for Nov. 8-9 at First Baptist Church Bossier City, the annual gathering’s theme is “The Higher Call: Personal Holiness, Preaching, Evangelism,” based on Colossians 3:2. “I want to encourage pastors this year to recognize and reflect on the high call of being a pastor,” said Eddie Wren, president of the Pastors Conference and pastor of First Baptist Church Rayville. “I want to encourage everyone to be there. I think it will be a great time of refreshment and refocus and a call back to the essentials of being a pastor.” The conference will begin 6 p.m. Nov. 8 with music by the First Bossier praise band. Brad Jurkovich, pastor of the host church, will preach the first sermon of the Pastors Conference. Louisiana Baptist Convention Executive Director David Hankins and LBC President Steve Horn, pastor of First Baptist Church Lafayette, will preach also during the opening session. The following day, the conference will begin 8:45 a.m. with music by Todd Dubose, minister of music at First Baptist Church Minden. Those preaching during the morning … [Read more...]

By Karisa Grant, Louisiana College student/first-person account PINEVILLE – For the past three years, I have studied education and social work at Louisiana College and would not trade that for the world. I have experienced more hands on training for my future than I could have ever imagined. During this time, I have been to Uganda twice and have fallen in love with the people there. After the first trip, my whole world was shifted. It was impossible for me to continue to live my life normally. When I changed my major to social work, I began to see so clearly what God wanted me to do with my life. He is leading me to spend my spring semester in 2016 in Uganda for my senior year social work internship. I will receive class credit because LC is a member of Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, which is affiliated with the Uganda Best Semester Program. I believe God is calling me to the mission of using my education to spread the gospel. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to glorify God and show His love. … [Read more...]

By Message Staff PINEVILLE – James Foster has a long, very diverse résumé which includes being a graduate of Louisiana College, a public school teacher, an evangelist, a barber, a pastor, and a trustee at Louisiana College. He can now add being selected as the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award to his impressive resume. Foster, a 1969 LC graduate, was awarded the DSA during this year’s Founder’s Day ceremonies at the college. In his acceptance message of the award given out each year during Founders Day, Foster, who has served as pastor of Utility Baptist Church in Jonesville since 1996, called the college a “marvelous place” and encouraged the students and others in attendance to serve others. “The word of God says you are bought with a price,” Foster said. “You are no longer your own. You belong to Him. And when you belong to Him, friend, you will serve Him through serving others.” It was Oct. 3, 1906, that Louisiana College was founded as a private, Christian, liberal arts college funded by the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Each year the founding of the college is marked by a campus-wide celebration and special chapel service. This year LC celebrated its 109th year at its annual Founder’s Day … [Read more...]

By Norm Miller, Louisiana College communications PINEVILLE – Inspired by her English teacher at Avoyelles Public Charter School, senior Jada Ford of Marksville won the grand prize at Louisiana College’s “Write or Recite” competition, Oct. 15. Sponsored by LC’s Division of Humanities, the contest “provided a venue for young writers to share their creative work with others who share their love of language,” said Dr. Cheryl Clark, chair of the division. “Ultimately, we wanted to provide a space for these students to be publicly honored and rewarded for their efforts because we believe encouraging young writers is an important part of our role as educators,” Clark added. The contest garnered submissions from public, private and home schools in the region. “We had many nicely crafted pieces, so the selection process for the finalists was difficult,” Clark said. “The great participation not only speaks to the talent of Louisiana students, but it also speaks to the dedication of our high school teachers. We are really pleased with the outcome of the event and are already making plans for next year’s event.” Ford, who won a $1,000 scholarship to LC and an iPad, said she intends to enroll at LC next year. The senior … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BATON ROUGE – The recent news of the International Mission Board offering some of their missionaries voluntary retirement has prompted a Louisiana Baptist business owner to hire one of them at his company. Dustin Beebe, owner of ProSys, an engineering firm in Baton Rouge, told the Baptist Message that he plans to bring the missionary on board sometime next year, fulfilling a leading from the Holy Spirit to do his part in helping out a former co-worker in a time of need. “What I would hate to see is these IMB missionaries who have been on the field so long are forgotten and we just leave them to drop,” said Beebe, a member of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. “They are in a tough situation and someone needs to step out.” Although giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has been up and it has been receiving more from the Cooperative Program, the International Mission Board overspent revenues by more than $210 million since 2010. Despite drawing down reserves and selling global properties, the nearly quarter of a billion dollars in overspending created a financial crisis that IMB leaders plan to meet by offering early retirement incentives to entice 600-800 … [Read more...]

By Mark H Hunter, Regional Reporter ANGOLA – For the first time in Louisiana Baptist history, and perhaps in all of Southern Baptist history, a local Baptist association has accepted a prison church into its fellowship. The Washington Baptist Association unanimously voted Oct. 5 to accept Grace Baptist Church of the Main Camp in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The Washington Association compromises 38 Louisiana Baptist Convention churches in Washington and St. Tammany Parishes and the annual meeting was held at First Baptist of Franklinton. Grace Baptist is five years old and is the only Southern Baptist church among the prison’s 28 inmate-led churches. Its 65 or so members meet five times a week in the Main Camp’s Education Center and twice a month in the Main Camp’s Tudy Chapel. Grace Baptist is led by inmate Pastor Paul Will, 42, a 2007 graduate of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Extension at Angola. Like most of the men at Angola, he is serving a life sentence. Andrew Voss is pastor of Hillcrest Baptist in Franklinton, where Will was ordained last year. Voss facilitated the agreement and is also a NOBTS adjunct professor. “To our knowledge this is the very first, fully recognized Southern … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer BOSSIER CITY – The times are challenging and messengers attending the annual meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention at First Baptist in Bossier City on Nov. 9-10 will have the opportunity to respond. Louisiana Baptist Convention President Steve Horn is hopeful messengers will embrace a new pastor-led initiative called The Pledge which aims to boost Cooperative Program giving and provide the necessary resources to meet the challenges presented by an increasingly secular culture. First announced during the Louisiana Baptist Executive Board meeting May 5, The Pledge was birthed out of the 2020 Commission Report adopted by messengers attending the 2013 meeting of the LBC in Alexandria. The initiative challenges churches giving less than 3 percent through the less than 3 percent through the Cooperative Program to move to 5 percent by 2020; churches giving between 3 and 8 percent are encouraged to increase by 2 percent by 2020; and churches giving between 8 and 9.9 percent are asked to move to 10 percent during the same time frame. Churches already giving 10 percent through CP will be thanked and encouraged to consider increasing by 1 percent by 2020 or simply reaffirm their … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer MARRERO – Made new is a common phrase these days for many at West Bank Baptist Church. Since moving to be nearer the community where the church ministers, the small but growing congregation has seen multiple decisions for Christ and baptisms. They have grown from just Pastor Ryan Melson and a handful of others meeting in his home in July 2014 to nearly 40 who now gather for worship at a local elementary school. Some may say it’s a strategic vision. Melson attributes that vision to the hand of God. “We prayed when we came to Marrero that God show us where to go, where You are moving,” said Melson, who moved from north Alabama to plant West Bank Baptist Church. “Now that we have an open door with the school, we do ministry with the school. “As God opens doors in different parts of the city, we go through them,” he continued. “It’s been cool to really to see God move.” One key part of the growth has been establishing relationships early on with “persons of peace” – those whom God would use to help Melson make inroads with others in the community. He found one in Ernest Houston, a resident in a neighborhood not far from Miller Wall Elementary School, where the church … [Read more...]