By Diana Chandler, Special to the Message NEW ORLEANS – Cherry Blackwell has learned the worth of prayer to soldiers in her many years of ministry to them. “Every soldier I have written to over the years,” she said, “prayer has always been their support system.” Now she’s leading a movement to send individual 3-by-5-inch quilt squares to U.S. soldiers around the world, beginning with the approximately 3,000 Louisiana National Guard personnel serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. What will set these squares apart are the prayers Christians will offer with each knot tied, sending a memento that will fit over the soldier’s heart, in their inside shirt pockets. Wearing them throughout their deployment, soldiers will be reminded that someone has prayed for them. “Each knot on the square represents a prayer that was said just for you. Remember, even if the knot comes out, the prayer lasts forever,” is the message attached to each cloth. She’ll also send squares to the families directly affected by the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and eventually to U.S. soldiers serving in various locations. Says Blackwell, “When they hold it and they touch it, they’re reminded that the person who gave it to them … [Read more...]

By Joanne Brechtel, Administrative Editor RUSTON – Temple Baptist has set 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, for an India Mission Training event for anyone interested in participating in future mission trips to the Heart of India. The training is to be provided by two missionaries and a meal will be served. The first trip is set for November 2010. Back-to-school supplies are being collected for needy students. Financial donations are also being accepted for the project. Children at Vacation Bible School collected $1,062 for the church’s Nicaragua Medical Mission Trip, which is four times the amount given in the previous year. The offering will go toward the purchase of 1,000 toothbrush/toothpaste kits and medicine. The trip is set for Aug. 21-27. Rick Byargeon, pastor. HAUGHTON – Eleven youth and four chaperones of First Baptist attended Mission Fuge Camp in Birmingham, Ala. in July, where some attendees worked in Vacation Bible Schools, Backyard Bible Clubs and Day Camps. Others did social ministry in soup kitchens, handicap centers, food banks, clothing closets, prison ministries and Salvation Army sites. Other ministries included painting, construction and yard work; creative, games and recreation ministry. George Rogers is … [Read more...]

Editor’s note: Every church, every person in Greater New Orleans has stories to tell of the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Following are the beginnings of several of them. Subscribers to the Baptist Message can read the articles in their entirety online at www.baptistmessage.com. CHALMETTE CHALMETTE – St. Bernard Baptist Church has a mostly new body of believers since Hurricane Katrina, many of them former Catholics displaced from their parishes after the storm. Paul Gregoire, who has led St. Bernard Baptist for nearly 28 years, had baptized 12 former Catholics into the congregation as of August. That’s sizable, considering the church draws about 35 people on Sundays. [img_assist|nid=6637|title=Franklin Avenue Pastor Fred Luter as he surveys massive damage and destruction by Hurricane Katrina.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=80]“Almost everybody is new,” Gregoire said. The church’s aging congregation of about 75 believers was permanently displaced by Katrina. Outside of his family of four, only five others were Baptist when they joined the congregation, which has also drawn Lutherans and Presbyterians. Gregoire is uniquely suited to minister to the group, having converted from Catholicism at age 30. He … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS – Before Hurricane Katrina, churches in the comfortable, middle-class neighborhood of Gentilly in New Orleans struggled to find ways to stir the hearts of their neighbors. The new presence Gentilly Baptist Church and Edgewater Baptist Church enjoy results from walking alongside neighbors on the long road to recovery, even as they walked hand in hand with special groups of Baptists who supported them through the journey. THE RIGHT PLACE TO BE In real estate, location is everything. For Edgewater Baptist Church, its location four blocks from the western wall of the London Avenue Canal didn’t seem so “good” after the levee broke in Hurricane Katrina. Now, members see themselves as being in the right place, at the right time. The storm opened doors for the Gospel and gave the congregation the connection to the community they had long prayed for. With the closure of two nearby public schools and a large church down the street, Edgewater became the neighborhood’s gathering place. “We would have never thought that ten feet of water in our community would result in our church building becoming the community hub where neighborhood meetings and recovery efforts would … [Read more...]

By Joe McKeever, Retired DOM BAGNO NEW ORLEANS (BP) – New Orleans artist Sherry Francalancia has been making the rounds asking local artists for their handprints on a work she is producing. The painting symbolizes this city, Sherry says. So many people have left permanent imprints on our lives for the better. Think of that painting as a metaphor for New Orleans in its post-Katrina existence. Over the five years since that hurricane made landfall causing the poorly constructed levees to flood the city, untold thousands of God’s people have come from the ends of the earth to bless New Orleans. [img_assist|nid=6106|title=Joe McKeever Pastor, cartoonist and retired DOM BAGNO|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]A recent ad for a law firm seeking clients in a class action suit against BP began: “When Hurricane Katrina devastated our part of the world, Louisianans stood alone.” Nothing could be further from the truth. We were inundated with friends from every direction. Even before most of us returned from evacuation, volunteer crews arrived from churches across America to clear streets and prepare meals for first responders. Later, a second wave of church teams arrived to mud-out houses and churches and begin the … [Read more...]

By Mark Foley, President University of Mobile The president was right. “Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation,” then-candidate Barack Obama said during a June 2007 speech. “At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.” That statement stirred a great deal of dust in Christian communities across the land. But regardless of a politician’s intent in a campaign speech or how strongly the notion may have been rejected among persons of faith, the simple truth is, his words were correct. According to data developed by the Barna research group through 2009, only 50 percent of American adults think that Christianity is still the “automatic faith of choice” in the U.S. A majority of self-identified Christians surveyed indicated comfort with the idea that the Bible and sacred books from non-Christian religions all teach the same truths and principles. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they will develop their own religious beliefs rather than accept the set of beliefs promoted by a church or denomination. And, only one third believe in absolute truth. So, if the term is biblically defined, then no, America … [Read more...]

By Kelly Boggs, Editor Baptist Message [img_assist|nid=5974|title=Kelly Boggs, Editor Louisiana Baptist Message|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=78|height=100]If you change any aspect of a mathematical or chemical equation, you not only alter the equation, you also affect its outcome. A judge’s recent ruling on marriage changes the entire concept of matrimony. If it is allowed to stand, it will also influence the outcome of marriage and its impact on society. A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Aug. 4 that California voters violated the U.S. Constitution when they passed a ballot measure intended to clarify and protect the traditional definition of marriage. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision voided a state constitutional amendment known as Proposition 8, passed by the Golden State’s electorate in 2008, which specified “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Two same-sex couples challenged Proposition 8, asserting it violated their right to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. The case came (randomly) before Vaughn, who happens to be openly homosexual. While “homosexual marriage” may not, directly at least, adversely impact any heterosexual marriage, … [Read more...]

By J. Darin Wales, Freelance Film/Tv Director Virginia Beach, Va. Recently I had a dear friend of mine read a script on which I had just finished a first draft. I knew the script had a few problems, but overall I thought it was pretty good. More than that, I really liked what I had written. My friend took a week to look over the script. I had given her the green light to “rip my script to shreds,” not realizing just how much she would take it to heart! With pencil and notepad in hand, I eagerly awaited the insights from my friend that would turn my script into a blockbuster hit. My friend started by asking why I wrote the script. I thought it was obvious since it was such great story, but I humored her. I told her that I wrote it because I thought it would be fun to write. Strike one. “Where was my conviction? Where was the message I was passionately trying to get across?” she asked. “Beats me,” I replied. Next, I was told my characters were hard to connect with and some of them were merely two-dimensional. Ouch! I love the characters I created and connect with them easily. I guess others don’t think the way I do and don’t know everything about my characters like I do. So my scribe telepathy seemed to have … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor STATEWIDE – Time was, some say, when there was a disconnect between New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina changed all that. “Katrina has made our churches more aware of the culture and personality of south Louisiana,” said Barry Joyner, director of missions for Morehouse and Northeast Louisiana Baptist Associations. “It has drawn our people here together [with people from New Orleans] as far as helping them relate one to another on a better level.” Virtually every church in every association in the Louisiana Baptist Convention responded in one way or another to the needs left after the desolation wrought in much of greater New Orleans. Each association contacted for this article said in one way or another, “What Satan meant for evil, God planned for good.” (Genesis 50:20.) [img_assist|nid=6644|title=Volunteers from Baptist associations throughout the north and central portions of Louisiana aided their neighbors to the south.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75] More than 1,800 deaths were recorded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Thousands upon thousands of people were displaced; in New Orleans, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a 53.9 percent … [Read more...]

By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer STATEWIDE – Now, when pennies count, and every budget is stretched to the breaking point, churches in Louisiana and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention are facing a dilemma. Many churches have or will soon have to purchase new wireless equipment to be in compliance with Federal Communications Commission rules regarding wireless microphones or else get ready to pay some hefty fines. As of June 12, anyone using a wireless microphone [hand held, lapel or headset] within the 700 megahertz range has been ordered to vacate the frequencies. According to the FCC, violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but fines could exceed $100,000. In the works for more than three years, many larger churches have addressed the issue, but there are still many medium and small churches that are just now becoming aware of the new rule. “I would venture to guess that many of the smaller churches in the state are not aware of the changes,” said Dennis Clark, Minister of Media at First Lafayette. “A member of our church asked me about it Sunday and told me it was the first he had heard about it.” The issue arose with the digital television switchover that was finalized in June … [Read more...]