By Mark H Hunter, Regional Reporter DENHAM SPRINGS – The oldest church in Livingston Parish just moved into a modern, spacious sanctuary that re-combined Hebron Baptist’s two-service congregations. The church, located just south of Denham Springs on Hwy. 16, also celebrated its 178th year with a May 3 homecoming service and, of course, dinner on the grounds – actually in the gym. “I feel like we have one congregation again,” said Joe Alain, senior pastor for the past nine years. “I kinda felt like I was pastoring two different churches. Now everything is together – which is a very positive experience.” For the past several years, due mainly to space constraints, they had been holding two services, one traditional at 8 a.m., and a contemporary service at 10:30 a.m. Now they hold one service at 10 a.m. and they have “blended” the formats as well, Alain said. “Our desire was to have the wisdom of our senior saints with the passion of our younger people,” Alain said. “Wisdom and passion together is a pretty good combination.” Founded in 1837, the congregation has met in a log cabin, a larger log-frame building, and several brick buildings until their new, $3 million, 25,000-square-foot sanctuary building was dedicated on March … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer ALEXANDRIA – Enthusiastic. Burdened. Inspired. Confident. That was the mood inside a room of more than 20 pastors from Louisiana Baptist congregations of all sizes and locations during a recent meeting in which they sought to reignite a passion for the Cooperative Program and cooperative missions through an initiative called “The Pledge.” “I need to be challenged,” said First Lafayette Pastor and current LBC President Steve Horn. “I need to be challenged in every area of my life.  If not challenged to give, we always fall back to status quo.” “We believe we can do more together than we can do by ourselves,” Horn told the May 14 meeting of 20 pastors. “And we believe in the methodology of our cooperative endeavors and our Cooperative program. It has served us well and will serve us well in the future. First announced during the Louisiana Baptist Executive Board meeting on May 5, The Pledge is a plan to challenge churches giving less than 3 percent to the Cooperative Program to move to 5 percent; churches giving between 3 and 8 percent are encouraged to increase by 2 percent; and churches giving between 8 and 9.9 percent to go to 10 percent. Churches who already give 10 percent in their … [Read more...]

By Al Quartemont, Special to the Message PINEVILLE – The message Dr. Rick Brewer gave at the 158th commencement of the college he only recently became president of could not have been clearer. “Rebel against society’s low expectations,” Brewer told the 147 graduates of Louisiana College on Saturday, May 16. “Do hard work.” In that commencement address, Brewer not only gave the 123 undergraduates and 24 masters students a life-long charge, he may have set a tone for the future of LC, itself. “The prevalent philosophy of our culture today is, ‘I am going to do what is the least that is expected of me and try to get the most payment for it,’” Brewer said. “In other words, minimum effort for maximum return. Shoddiness and lack of extra effort should never take place in the mind of a Christ follower.” Brewer called on the students to live their lives under what he termed “The Rebekah Principle.” He used the example of Isaac’s future wife (Genesis 24), who not only served water for Abraham’s servants, but put in the extra effort to water the group’s camels, too. “After you’ve done what’s asked of you, you do a bit extra, you do even more,” Brewer said. “I’m here to tell you, we not only would see excellence in the market place, … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer FLORIEN – Arturo Us Sr. is proud to be an American. He’s reminded of that every day as he ministers to Hispanics throughout a three-parish area, preaching from the pulpit on Sundays at his church and, also, when he thinks about the United States citizenship he earned on Nov. 6. “I’m thankful to God I’m a US citizen,” Us said. “I’m blessed. I think it’s the will of God that he brought me here to this place.” Us is not the only person in his family who is an American citizen. His son, Arturo Jr., and his daughter both received their citizenship. His daughter is his organist and his son is pastor of El Alfa Y La Spanish  in Leesville. Both Us and his son participated in a citizenship ceremony on May 13 in Alexandria. “I’m blessed to be an American,” said Arturo Jr. “It’s not easy to get citizenship and this is a big blessing in our lives. God brings blessings and this is part of it.” Others in his family are either nearing their citizenship or just beginning the process of learning English so one day they can apply to be a citizen. His son, Rueben, is pastor of Emmanuel Hispanic Baptist Church in DeRidder and is applying to become a citizen in November. Us’ wife, Isabel, … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy & Brian Blackwell BATON ROUGE – Hours after a religious freedom bill was struck down in committee May 20, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal moved quickly to sign an executive order that afternoon which captured both the intent and much of the language of the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act. “In Louisiana, the state should not be able to take adverse action against a person for their belief in traditional marriage,” read a statement issued from the governor’s office. “That’s why I’m issuing an Executive Order this evening to prevent the state from discriminating against people, charities and family-owned businesses with deeply held religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman,” said Jindal. “We don’t support discrimination in Louisiana and we do support religious liberty. These two values can be upheld at the same time. “Indeed, we celebrate diversity of belief in Louisiana. Diversity of belief and religious liberty are the foundation of our law and Constitution and they should be protected. As long as I’m Governor, we will fight to protect religious liberty and not apologize for it,” said Jindal. The executive order means the 20 agencies that fall under the executive branch, including … [Read more...]