TOBEY PITMAN, national missionary with NAMB serving in community ministry, living on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Pre-Katrina was director of the Brantley Center for the homeless near downtown New Orleans. By TOBEY PITMAN New Orleans is an historical, primary missional target for Southern Baptists. This truth has played out in many ways dating all the way back to 1845, the founding year of the SBC. New Orleans was one of three reasons forwarded for creating the Domestic Mission Board (now NAMB). Southern Baptists have loved New Orleans and have made Kingdom investments through church planting, missionary appointments, ministry centers, Associational missions, LBC missions, SBC Annual Meetings and Cross Over Evangelism, a hospital, a seminary, and now disaster response. Katrina served to refocus denominational thought on New Orleans. This is demonstrated in the huge number of volunteers that came immediately and have continued to leave footprints and heart prints here for five years. The incredible amount of money given for Katrina relief through NAMB Disaster Relief is a reliable barometer of how Southern Baptist people felt about New Orleans. In a sense, Katrina reminded Southern Baptists of our roots, our … [Read more...]
Katrina’s volunteers led people to God
By MARILYN STEWART, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS – Jose Mathews, pastor of Discipleship Baptist Church in New Orleans East when Hurricane Katrina hit, lost everything in the storm – home, possessions, church. Then things got worse. Before his family had time to process the loss, Mathews suffered a stroke, lost his mother, and then his son. With a faith strengthened through trial, Mathews recognizes that God worked through the storm. Today, Mathews is the pastor of the growing Circle Baptist Church in Baker. “Katrina was the catalyst for moving me from the city I grew up in - a city I said I would never leave - to a city where God was already working,” Mathews said. “I didn’t go looking for God, but found God already at work where he put me.” Volunteers who served in New Orleans after the storm agree with Mathews that while “nobody wanted Katrina,” God has used the storm to change lives and ministries across the nation. A NEW HEART FOR ALASKA Michael Dupree, Rabbit Creek Community Church of Anchorage, Alaska, didn’t understand at first why people didn’t start life over someplace other than New Orleans. After two trips to the city, Dupree came to appreciate the importance of “home.” “Katrina, for me, was a huge eye … [Read more...]
NOBTS: Katrina’s fury; God’s mercies
By GARY D. MYERS, NOBTS Communications NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Many of the visible marks left by Hurricane Katrina five years ago have been washed away by time and hard work, but the impact of the storm continues to affect New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Despite deep pain and challenging circumstances, the seminary community overcame. NOBTS President Chuck Kelley has seen those who went through the storm emerge with a deeper faith in God and an unflinching, stubborn commitment to be witnesses in the city and region. On Aug. 29, 2005, Katrina slammed ashore just east of New Orleans, leaving a path of destruction stretching from New Orleans to Mobile, Ala., and as far north as Meridian, Miss. Initially it seemed that New Orleans escaped the worst of the storm, but multiple levee failures left 70 percent of New Orleans underwater. The seminary was not spared. Sixty percent of campus housing received significant damage. Only two weeks into a new semester, the seminary’s primary task of training ministers was put on hold. Main campus students fled to 29 different states; the faculty was scattered to nine states. The healing process began quickly. Southern Baptists showered the displaced seminary community with financial … [Read more...]
Displaced Catholics find new home with Baptists
By DIANA CHANDLER, Regional Reporter 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. “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 takes Catholics through the transition by focusing on relationship evangelism and setting a good example. “I want them to have a personal relationship with Jesus,” Gregoire said. “That’s what I was missing as a Catholic was a personal relationship with Jesus. I want them to not depend on me to do worship service.” Gregoire said he is excited about restoring the congregation that is about half its pre-Katrina size. He currently … [Read more...]
Resolutions, nominees for Louisiana Baptist posts sought
Louisiana Baptists are invited to submit names of nominees for service on state convention boards and committees and to submit resolutions for possible consideration for the 2010 Louisiana Baptist Convention. The Louisiana Baptist Committee on Committees is beginning work to nominate persons to serve on various state convention committees. Currently, 19 nominees are needed for service on committees on Credentials, Louisiana Baptist History, Moral and Social Concerns, Nominations, Order of Business and Resolutions. Committee on Committees Chair is Richard Blue. In addition, the Louisiana Baptist Committee on Nominations is beginning work to fill vacancies on state boards. At this point, 13 nominees are needed to serve on the Convention Executive Board and as trustees of Louisiana College, the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, the Baptist Message, and the Louisiana Baptist Foundation. The Committee on Nominations Chair is Carl Gulde. As in previous years, persons should submit names of nominees and the committee or board for which they are being nominated. Submissions should include information on the nominee’s church membership and current employment. Nominations should be submitted no later than … [Read more...]
Masteller invites all pastors to Aug. 9 prayer meeting for lost
By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer SHREVEPORT – Through the years, pastors have come together to pray for a variety of national, state, and convention-related issues. Now, Louisiana Baptist Convention President Rod Masteller is asking them to join him at Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport to pray for the single, most important concern today: the lost. [img_assist|nid=6139|title=Dr. Rod Masteller|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=61|height=100] On Aug. 9, all Louisiana pastors are invited to join Masteller and Bill Robertson, director of the Pastoral Leadership Team, at Summer Grove for an LBC-sponsored prayer meeting. The meeting will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. and the LBC will provide lunch. Lee Thomas, author of Effectively Praying for the Lost, will be the featured speaker. Masteller saw the need for the gathering of pastors after conducting seven statewide listening meetings and reading Thomas’ book. “I have never met Lee Thomas face to face, but I have talked with him many times,” Masteller said. “His book really spoke to my heart. I asked Bill [Robertson] and David [LBC Executive Director David Hankins] if they had ever read his book, and both said they had. They also agreed it was powerful. “I … [Read more...]
Providing more money for reaching the nations
By Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor Springdale, Ark. For a few months, God has really been working in my life about what actions I need to take and our church needs to take to get the Gospel to the nations in a more effective manner. Serving as the Chairman of Southern Baptist’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has truly changed my life and ministry perspective. [img_assist|nid=6483|title=Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor First Baptist Springdale, Ark.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]I have been on national television for about 20 years. In fact, upon Richard Jackson’s retirement from the North Phoenix Church, I became the Invitation to Life preacher for the Southern Baptist Convention’s former Radio and Television Commission. Through the years, we have been on the former ACTS network, WGN in Chicago, and for the past several years, only on the DayStar Television Network, which is a growing national and international Christian Network out of Dallas, Texas. I announced to our congregation that for a season of time – two or three years or perhaps even longer – we are suspending our national and international television ministry in order to allocate more money to seeing the nations come to Christ through the … [Read more...]
God uses ‘nobodies’
By David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor Shadow Mountain El Cajon, Calif. [img_assist|nid=6109|title=David Jeremiah, Pastor Shadow Mountain El Cajon, California|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=83|height=100]God doesn’t take the majority of His workers from the ranks of the wise, mighty or noble. First Corinthians 1:26 says, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” Continuing in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen.” Paul says to get His job done, God uses things which are foolish, things which are weak, things which are base, things which are despised. THE FOOLISH God is able to work through the non-intellectual things in this world. D. L. Moody was an uneducated and uncultured man. With no educational advantages, he established the Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute, the Moody radio stations, and the list goes on. He’s an excellent example of how God’s power is not resident in our … [Read more...]
WHY YOUR FAITH IS SECURE: It is based on an unchanging status of relationship
By Steve Lemke, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Provost [img_assist|nid=6339|title=Steve Lemke, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Provost|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]In this series of articles about the biblical reasons supporting the security of the believer, we have already seen four reasons that we cannot lose our salvation: 1 because salvation is not ours to lose since God provides it, not we ourselves, 2 – because it is based upon a life-changing salvation experience with God, 3 – because eternal salvation is a Scriptural promise, and 4 – because eternal salvation is a logical necessity. This week we look at a fifth reason from Ephesians 1 and other Scriptures that we can have confidence we cannot lose our salvation – because it is based on an unchanging status of relationship. One of the most fundamental confusions about the security of the believer is that it is earned by good works. Some teach that if we keep persevering with good works that we will eventually be saved. Yes, if we are truly saved, we will demonstrate it: bear fruit consistent with repentance (Matthew 3:8, HCSB; see also Acts 26:20). But we are not saved by our continuing in good works. We continue in … [Read more...]
Questions We’ve Pondered
[img_assist|nid=6013|title=Archie England PH D NOBTS Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=73|height=100]Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, many similarly ask, “How is this relevant for us today?” Too often a question I field about the Old Testament. If it is so relevant (and it is) why then do believers intentionally avoid so much of the Old Testament? Since all the Bible is the authoritative, inspired Word of God, all should be studied. Otherwise, biblical literacy will wane, becoming dwarfed by a radical, passionate praxis based upon a ever-dwindling knowledge of God’s word. To answer this question, I use four major periods of the Old Testament to show how it genuinely prepares a person to understand the message and meaning of the New Testament. This organization focuses upon periods, people, and major ideas/themes. The first period begins with Abraham and ends with Moses. During this time (ca. 1900-1400 BC) God establishes the covenant (Genesis 15) with one person. Moses functionally closes the period with the giving of the Law. But law here is best understood as covenant instruction (which Israelites call Torah). This law of the covenant becomes foundational, in … [Read more...]
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