By STAFF, Baptist Message   ALEXANDRIA – A 1973 Most Valuable Player in high school basketball in Louisiana recently was named director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention Missions and Ministries team.   John Hebert, with roots near Forest Hill, La., takes over the missions leadership role following the retirement of Mike Canaday. Read about Canaday in the Dec. 23 issue of the Baptist Message.   "I feel like I’ve been preparing for this my whole life," Hebert said with obvious joy in being chosen as Canaday’s successor. "This position is the ultimate challenge for the person committed to missions; it’s the crown jewel of mission endeavors. You get to use your experience and what you’ve learned to shape the missions efforts of the state.   [img_assist|nid=6980|title=John Hebert|desc=Is taking over the missions leadership role following the retirement of Mike Canaday.|link=none|align=left|width=79|height=100]"My years of athletic competition have shaped my life and ministry," Hebert continued. "The value of working together as a team … has taught me some very important lessons about work and leadership."   Hebert, reared in a Christian home – his father was a deacon; his mother led the music – … [Read more...]

By BILL WARREN   QUESTION: Many people at my church still use the King James Version. What is the history and importance of that version, and should we all use it?   Bill Warren responds: The making of the translation was "authorized" by King James at a conference in 1604, but he had no role in the translation itself, did not fund it, and never "authorized" its use. King James mostly wanted a less "Calvinistic" translation than the popular "Geneva Bible" used by many of the Puritans. The KJV was a full translation based on the Greek New Testament and Hebrew Old Testament editions current at that time. The translation was made by 54 scholars working in six teams, with two teams each from Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster. The King James Version (KJV) is the most impacting English Bible translation ever made, and continues to be used and cherished by many. The KJV was released in 1611, so we are celebrating its 400th anniversary this year!   Bill Warren Ph.D. is Professor of New Testament and Greek, and Director of the H. Milton Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies, both at NOBTS.   The end result was a very solid translation that represented the best scholarship of the day. As for the … [Read more...]

By Mark H. Hunter, Special to the Message   BATON ROUGE – Rodrick Evan Conerly D.Min., died Dec. 23 after a heart attack. He was 61   Known to his friends and family as "Roddy," he was, since 2005, the executive director of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, a family of 105 Southern Baptist congregations. He also was director of seminary extension classes for the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.   During his ministry he served as pastor of numerous churches in Louisiana and Mississippi, and also as a foreign missionary to Peru.   [img_assist|nid=6984|title=Rodrick Conerly|desc=dies of a heart attack|link=none|align=left|width=71|height=100]A well-attended memorial service, including about 50 area pastors and dozens of friends and relatives from Mississippi, took place Monday, Dec. 27, at at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. For several hours the line of more than 400 visitors consoling the family stretched to the back of the cavernous sanctuary.   "We are here to honor a great man who lived his life to the fullest for his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," said Ron Lambe, associate pastor of Istrouma Baptist and longtime friend. "If Roddy were here today, looking out at … [Read more...]

By FRANK MCCORMACK, NOBTS Communications   NEW ORLEANS – During his college and seminary days in the 1970s, Dennis Phelps crisscrossed the state of Louisiana, preaching and leading evangelistic youth events as part of the Louisiana Moral and Civic Foundation’s student outreach efforts.   "His reputation as a young preacher was very strong around the state," Ken Ward, executive director of the Louisiana Moral and Civic Foundation (LMCF), recalled of Phelps.   And now, Dennis Phelps Ph.D. continues that commitment to preaching as professor of preaching and director of church relations and alumni for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS). Phelps also occupies the school’s J.D. Grey Chair of Preaching.   [img_assist|nid=6986|title=Preaching Award|desc=Ken Ward, executive director of the Louisiana Moral and Civic Foundation, presents Dennis Phelps the J.D. Grey Preaching Award.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=85]And it’s that commitment to preaching – especially on current, pressing moral issues – that recently earned Phelps the J.D. Grey Preaching Award, given annually by the Louisiana Moral and Civic Foundation.   Ward traveled to New Orleans Nov. 30 to present the award to Phelps … [Read more...]

By STAFF, Baptist Message   ALEXANDRIA – A reduced budget was approved and two plaques of appreciation were presented at the Dec. 14 semi-annual meeting of the Baptist Message Board of Trustees, which took place in the third-floor conference room of the Baptist Building.   A difficult economy resulted in the Baptist Message coming up short on what was a no-frills budget of $882,600 for 2010.   As a result, the budget for 2011 was trimmed by $66,910.   "To achieve the significant reduction meant the elimination of a staff position, which resulted in a retirement; it also meant a redesign of the paper," explained Kelly Boggs, editor of the Baptist Message.   "The cost-cutting measures we have enacted will enable us to go forward with a balanced budget for 2011," Boggs said. "Reducing the budget required some difficult, even painful, decisions, but they were unavoidable in order to be fiscally responsible."   In other business, the board adopted a new retirement gift policy designed to more appropriately recognize employees with a long tenure of service.   Robert Daniel, Director of Missions for Big Creek, Central Louisiana and North Rapides Associations, received a plaque at the … [Read more...]

By STAFF, Baptist Press   My soul is grieving deeply   And wants to say, "Goodbye."   It’s shattered into tiny pieces   Only You can make it whole.   All that is left is my faith in You   And it gives me hope in myself.   Heal my heart   Because it is no longer mine.   Partnering for Christ     Valentina is just one changed life from the ministry of Jackie and her husband Kyle and a partnership they forged three years ago with FBC Ruston. This is the fourth team that came within that time frame.   Their work has been varied, but this year they came during an annual festival in Prilep. The town of 75,000 was overrun as people from all over South Europe came to join the fun. Sunday night at the main-event concert, 200,000 people packed the streets.   Kyle and Jackie have formed a club called "Izgrev" (sunrise) through which they are reaching the people of Prilep with the Gospel. FBC printed coozies (insulated drink holders) with the club logo, filled them with water bottles and passed them out in the early evenings during the festival.   "I don’t think anyone here had ever seen or even heard of coozies, so we had to explain what they were," Jackie said. "They were a great way to get our logo out … [Read more...]

By STAFF, Baptist Press   My soul is grieving deeply   And wants to say, "Goodbye."   It’s shattered into tiny pieces   Only You can make it whole.   All that is left is my faith in You   And it gives me hope in myself.   Heal my heart   Because it is no longer mine.   Partnering for Christ     Valentina is just one changed life from the ministry of Jackie and her husband Kyle and a partnership they forged three years ago with FBC Ruston. This is the fourth team that came within that time frame.   Their work has been varied, but this year they came during an annual festival in Prilep. The town of 75,000 was overrun as people from all over South Europe came to join the fun. Sunday night at the main-event concert, 200,000 people packed the streets.   Kyle and Jackie have formed a club called "Izgrev" (sunrise) through which they are reaching the people of Prilep with the Gospel. FBC printed coozies (insulated drink holders) with the club logo, filled them with water bottles and passed them out in the early evenings during the festival.   "I don’t think anyone here had ever seen or even heard of coozies, so we had to explain what they were," Jackie said. "They were a great way to get our logo out … [Read more...]

By KAREN L. WILLOUGHBY, Managing Editor   DENISON, Texas (BP) – Aggressive missions giving doesn’t just happen, said Chet Haney, pastor of Parkside Baptist Church.   It takes a congregation with a heart for missions and a pastor with a focus and willingness "to really challenge people to stretch their vision and their concept of what they can do," said Haney, who has been Parkside’s pastor for 15 years.   Located in the bustling city of Denison, Texas, 75 miles north of Dallas and one of 65 congregations in the Grayson Baptist Association, Parkside has grown exponentially in its missions fervor.   [img_assist|nid=6990|title=Giving to Missions|desc=In 2009, members gave $14,563 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, or $22.61 per capita. Across the Southern Baptist Convention, the average member’s overall per capita gift to the offering is $14.78.|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]In 2009, members gave $14,563 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, or $22.61 per capita. Across the Southern Baptist Convention, the average member’s overall per capita gift to the offering is $14.78.   "It’s been a blessing over the years to see … [Read more...]

By DAVID E. HANKINS, Executive Director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention       He who laughs last, laughs best. This familiar saying is a reminder to us to avoid premature and presumptuous claims of victory.   The biblical proverb says, "The one who puts his armor on should not boast like the one who takes it off."   It is wise to wait until the battle is over to assess your performance.   The recent spate of pre-fight, pre-game, and pre-match rhetoric and taunting and predictions in the sports world confirms the lesson: The one who laughs last, laughs best.   There is a narrative in the synoptic gospels about some people who laughed too soon. The story is about a ruler of the synagogue. Mark and Luke tell us his name: Jairus. He has come to Jesus because his daughter, for all practical purposes, is dead.   In fact, before Jairus can direct Jesus’ thought and feet toward his house, a servant comes from the house and says, "Never mind, the girl has died." But Jairus has no other resources. All of his options were expended, and he had no other choices. He needed the One who makes the impossible possible. So Jesus accompanies him home.   Then comes the laughable … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs   Fifty-three million is a huge number. So significant is the number that its very presence makes a huge impact.   If you had $53 million in your bank account you would be financially free. If you live 53 million minutes you will celebrate 100 birthdays.   In similar fashion, the absence of 53 million of anything can have staggering impact.     … [Read more...]