By Holly Jo Linzay, Special to the Message   [img_assist|nid=7999|title=Drama instructions|desc=More than 200 participants attended the two-day Music and Drama Festival held at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria recently. Music and drama workshops, such as the one pictured above, were offered throughout the event.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480]ALEXANDRIA – High-energy drama, choreography and uplifting music stirred the hearts of the attendees at the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s recent Music & Drama Festival.   More than 200 participants received hands-on training during the workshops and learned new expressions of worship at the two-day event Feb. 24-25 at Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria.   “This whole festival has been a life-changing experience,” enthused Logan White, 15, of Walker Baptist Church. “I learned so much about using your emotions to help usher people into the presence of God.”   During the festival, attendees selected from a plethora of workshops from vocal technique lessons to basic acting to learning how to present scripture through a mime presentation in a worship service.   “We live in a visual society of 5-minute clips sandwiched in … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   [img_assist|nid=8001|title=Renovations on the Storefront|desc=Renovations by Kingdom Builders for the Lord Inc. give a facelift to the front of Ferriday’s Delta Storefront Ministries.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=424]FERRIDAY – About half the population of this Mississippi delta town lives in grueling poverty, the kind where kids wear flip-flops in mid-winter because their feet outgrew their school shoes from last fall, where supper might be a bit of rice sprinkled with tomato sauce, because that’s all that’s left in the cupboard, where clothes stay piled on beds for the family to crawl under, to thwart the chill left from a too-thin blanket in a house that might not have much – if any – heat.   Delta Storefront Ministries helps.   It’s been helping since 1989, when it was started in a rented building on Ferriday’s main street by a pastor and his then-WMU-president wife: Preston and Ruby Holder.   Despite a building that seemed to show its age more each time the doors were opened, about 500 families a month sought the food, clothing and spiritual assistance provided by Delta Storefront Ministries.   The building’s owner … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor   [img_assist|nid=8004|title=FBC Delta Junction|desc=A layer of snow and the bluish look of a cloudy day in Delta Junction, Alaska, fail to hide the readiness of First Baptist Church members to share the Gospel through missions and ministries supported by Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=442]DELTA JUNCTION, Alaska (BP) – “We’re a small town in a remote area,” Alaska pastor Dave Becker says of Delta Junction, where he leads First Baptist Church.   As a Southern Baptist congregation, however, the church has a global reach.   “We believe the best and most effective way to be involved in what Jesus told us to do – which is to reach the world – is with our support of the Cooperative Program,” said Becker, First Baptist’s pastor since 2000.   “Our church continues to view the Cooperative Program as a great opportunity to give to the Kingdom of God for the glory of God throughout the world.”   The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists’ method of supporting missions and ministry efforts of state conventions and the SBC.   About 100 people participate in Sunday morning worship at First … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter   BATON ROUGE – Presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum told several Louisiana Baptist congregations that God called him to run for the presidency.   Santorum, a Republican from Pa., spoke to packed sanctuaries at First Baptist Church in Bossier City and Calvary Baptist in Shreveport the morning of March 18, and then again that Sunday evening to more than 1,400 crowded into Greenwell Springs Baptist in Central, near Baton Rouge.   “I came to the United States Senate and found the Lord,” Santorum, a lifelong Catholic, said during a question and answer time at Greenwell Springs Baptist, hosted by Dennis Terry and conducted by Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council.   “Through Bible study, finding a great church with my wife Karen, and a small prayer group in the Senate, I opened my eyes to what my faith was all about and where I was supposed to be in my relationship with Him and what I was supposed to be doing – not just in my professional life but as a father and husband. No question about it – it changed my life,” Santorum said.   After being defeated in his second run for the Senate, Santorum told how he … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Regional Reporter   [img_assist|nid=8008|title=The Greatest Story Ever Told|desc=Chad Hebert depicting Jesus and John MacDougal depicting Anthony recreate that fateful day when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross.|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=480]MORGAN CITY – Bayou Vista Baptist Church members are praying for a harvest of souls when they present, “Bow the Knee,” an Easter-themed production that last year drew a thousand people and more than 20 reported decisions for salvation.   The dramatic musical portraying the death and resurrection of Jesus, will be presented at the Bayou Vista Civic Center on Friday, March 30, at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 31, at 7 p.m. and a 3 p.m. matinee on Palm Sunday, April 1. It is free but an offering will be accepted.   “Presenting it in a separate place besides the church gives us an opportunity to reach the community – beyond these walls – and that’s the whole point,” said Robert “Bobby” Powell, the church’s music and education minister. “Another point is that it involves a lot of people in our church and gives them an opportunity for ministry, like building props, sewing costumes and painting the sets.”   “Bow the Knee,” … [Read more...]

Dear Editor   I wonder if Jesus’ confrontation with the Scribes and Pharisees was “frustrating and hurtful.” Jesus didn’t downplay anybody’s sin. He called it what it is – sin.  Homosexuality is the only sin referred to as an “abomination” to God.  If there is a hierarchy of sins, it was made by God, not man.   As stated by Pastor Goeke (Why homosexuality is different – the reality in the March 15th issue of the Baptist Message), “Homosexuality is the only sinful behavior that has a cultural identity and movement surrounding it. What other sin is encouraged to be cele-brated? What other sin has a “pride” movement attached to it?”   Perhaps this is what makes homosexuality an abomination. They strive to convince the rest of us that their sin is no sin at all! How many innocents are deceived by that message?   The bottom line is that we cannot be forgiven of our sins until we see them as God sees them. Confession must take place before there can be forgiveness. Pretending that any sinful lifestyle is acceptable will not bring a lost soul to salvation.       Judy Holloway   Alexandria, LA  71303     … [Read more...]

[img_assist|nid=8016|title=Being Objective|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=495|height=640]By Kelly Boggs, Editor Baptist Message   The New York Times on March 9 published an advertisement carrying the headline “It’s Time To Quit The Catholic Church.”.   Placed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, the ad was a scathing attack on the Catholic church and encouraged liberal and nominal Catholics to abandon their faith.   “We invite you to free yourself from incense-fogged ritual, from ideas uttered long ago by ignorant men, from blind obedience to an illusory religious authority,” the FFRF ad urged.   Four days after the FFRF ad appeared in The Times, two organizations – The American Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization Of America – sought to place an ad that mimicked the FFRF ad in almost every way. The proposed ad, however, encouraged moderate Muslims to exit Islam.   “It’s Time To Quit Islam” the headline in the proposed ad read. It asked, “Will it be religious freedom, freedom of speech, or back to the Dark Ages? Do you choose women and their rights, or imams and their wrongs? Whose side are you on?”   The ad, though, has yet to see … [Read more...]

By Keith Manuel, Evangelism strategist for the LBC   I read recently this from a small town pastor:   The people of our area are good people, clear-headed and orderly. They are as industrious and as kind as any people who live in our area. We are fortunate to be free from the crime the bigger cities seem to have. It is a good place to live and raise a family.   Don’t let me mislead you, we aren’t without our problems.   Our town consists of about 200 families with everyone living closely together. Because of this closeness, when we do have problems, the problems spread rapidly.   Our church has seen peaks and valleys since its beginning. I followed the church’s second pastor, Reverend Stoddard, who served here for 60 years. He said that during his ministry there were five periods of extraordinary harvests.   He often spoke of the mighty movements of God, particularly among the young people.   Reverend Stoddard told me the last time of harvest was 18 years before the end of his ministry. Since then, the young people of our community seem to run toward sin and rebellion, not caring for the things of God. Our community suffers greatly because of it. The way … [Read more...]

By John Hebert, Team Leader for LBC's Mission and Ministries   [img_assist|nid=8013|title=New Orleans|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=528|height=640]Contrary to conventional wisdom, the city of New Orleans and Southern Baptists have a fond affection for one another especially since the days following Hurricane Katrina.   In general New Orleans has the reputation of being indifferent to all evangelicals, especially Baptists. However in November of 2011, the Louisiana Baptist Missions and Ministries Team retained Turner Research to test the components of the new Cooperative Church Planting Strategy developed in 2010.   Based on common “Baptist” practices such as knocking on doors, personal witnessing, Bible studies and prayer meetings, many churches have been planted using these methods.   Many believe that such practices are ineffective in today’s culture and churches for the most part have abandoned these methods that once won countless souls to Christ. Tragically, 64 percent of those surveyed said no church has contacted them in the last six months.   The research further indicates that over six out of ten said they would be open to Baptists coming to their home and … [Read more...]

By Bill Warren, NOBTS   Question: A website said Jesus was crucified on a Thursday, not on Friday as I’ve been taught. Which day is right?   Bill Warren’s response:  In more recent history especially, some have indeed suggested Thursday or even Wednesday for the crucifixion instead of Friday. The main argument against the traditional Friday date centers on Matthew 12:40 where Jesus says, for just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, likewise the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.   The argument is that a Friday crucifixion may allow for three days, but it doesn’t allow for three nights. The three days are based on the Jewish day of 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. (For example, Genesis 1 depicts the days as evening and then mornings), so part of Friday is day one, Saturday (starting at 6 p.m. Friday) is day two, and Sunday is day three. But only two nights are then included. Of course, exactly three days and three nights requires starting specifically at the turn point from one day to the following night, a very unlikely scenario.   The basic problem with this approach is in using Matthew 12:40 to change the plain chronology of … [Read more...]