By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter LORANGER – When general contractor Mike Baham of Loranger learned that True Vine Indian [Baptist] Church in Bristow, Okla., needed a building, he loaded up his crew of five employees, two company trucks, and a trailer of tools, for a week-long construction trip –  all at his expense. Baham, of Mike Baham and Sons LLC, paid his employees their regular 40 hour-a-week wages and covered the cost of travel. [img_assist|nid=6517|title=General contractor Mike Baham poses with his crew and members of True Vine Indian Church in Bristow Okla.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]When Baham first mentioned the trip to his employees, Chris Boudreaux, a non-Baptist, hesitated because he didn’t want to spend a week away from his wife and children, ages 3 and 7 months. “But the more I heard about [the trip,] the more I thought it would be something I would look back on later and be glad I did it,” Boudreaux said. Baham said scheduling the trip around family responsibilities was difficult and some, like Boudreaux, moved vacation time to other weeks, in order to participate. The trip was coordinated through Randy Carruth of IAmAble ministries, in conjunction with the partnership of … [Read more...]

By Marilyn Stewart, Regional Reporter COVINGTON – Pretty and petite, Kathy Jo Thompson jumped at the chance to be athletic trainer for the LSU football team in what turned out to be their 2008 national championship year. Now battling a debilitating condition, Kathy Jo faces an even greater challenge, though it’s a journey she says she doesn’t regret. “She’s my hero,” said Delos Thompson, Kathy Jo’s father. A loss of balance and numbness of hands during Kathy Jo Thompson’s final semester at LSU brought back a diagnosis of neurofibromatosis, type 2, a genetic disorder that typically produces benign tumors in the brain and spinal cord. [img_assist|nid=6520|title=Diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, Kathy Jo Thompson, remains strong by staying focused on God.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]Thompson, 24, has undergone three major surgeries in the last sixteen months. The most recent – and potentially the most serious – involved a tumor inside the spinal cord the size of Lincoln’s head on a penny. Although life these days revolves around hospitals as much as it does home and ranch, Kathy Jo Thompson and her family stay focused on God. “I’m stronger than I thought I was,” Kathy Jo said. “I know it’s … [Read more...]

By Karen Willoughby, Managing Editor GULF COAST – Now more than three months into the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill that has spread to all five states that border the Gulf of Mexico, area pastors are feeling the heat. Eddie Painter of Barataria Baptist Church in Lafitte is one example. The well at presstime had been successfully temporarily capped, but the situation continues to deteriorate with new reports of seepage. “I’m sensing a lot of anger,” said Painter on July 8. He’s a commercial fisherman and pastor of Barataria Baptist Church in the Lafitte area, about 30 miles southeast of New Orleans in Terrebonne Parish. “I think [area residents] are just beginning to understand the long-term ramifications of it [the oil spill]. “I just talked early this morning with one of our local business owners,” Painter continued. “I think the people here are just beginning to understand the long-term ramifications of the oil spill. Raymond’s beginning to realize he may be out of business even when this is over.” The man he was talking with was a charter boat captain who’d had a thriving business for 12 years, Painter said. “Part of the problem is the perception people have,” the pastor said. “The press … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor POINTE-AUX-CHENE – Tom Bellon, pastor for the last two and a half years at Live Oak Baptist Church in Pointe-Aux-Chene, tells a similar story as that of Barataria Baptist. “It’s funny how God opens doors,” Bellon said with peace rather than laughter in his voice.  “It [the oil spill] is good in that the Lord  has opened doors for us to speak with people about Christ and share our faith in Christ, so it’s been very good in that respect. There are people we’ve been able to interact with and share Jesus with that we wouldn’t have been able to, otherwise. “Right now there’s a lot of money because we’re working for BP,” Bellon said, identifying himself with the town because this is where he was reared. His father was pastor of the church years ago. “One of the tribal chiefs – we’re a tribal town – wrote a letter to BP and BP came down here to see what they could do. They didn’t have any facilities available so we opened the church to them.” BP set up a temporary office in the church, and uses the church for Hazwoper training and 6 a.m. daily safety meetings, which the pastor opens with scripture and prayer. “That’s a huge thing,” Bellon said. “There’s over 100 people there. It’s … [Read more...]

By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor VENICE – This town of about 400 people at the southern end of Plaquemines Parish is near to bursting with newcomers. Venice is the closest point of land to the ruptured Deepwater Horizon wellsite. As many as 5,000 clean-up personnel – perhaps more! – are expected to converge on the town. About 1,400 already fill a tent village at the south end of town, beyond which the road dead-ends. Several smaller groupings of people have squeezed in around town, and a flotilla of vessels offshore also houses people, said Steve McNeal, pastor of First Baptist Church of Venice. It’s the overcrowded conditions, lack of entertainment and traffic tie-ups that are wearing people down, McNeal said. [img_assist|nid=6524|title=Gulf Oil Spill|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=83]“The media is trying to paint a picture down here of despair and how the oil industry has ruined peoples’ lives,” the pastor said. “That’s just not true. The people here are very tenacious. The emotional upheaval is simply because life is so difficult, and it happened so quickly, and it’s not going away, and you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring.” Shrimpers, for example, are used to managing their time … [Read more...]

By Quinn Lavespere, Message Summer Staff Writer HORNBECK – It was a seed planted two years ago. First Baptist Church of Hornbeck celebrated its first-ever quilt camp on June 7-12, after months of planning and praying, quilt camp director Mary Wind said. “It was an idea I really prayed about that God just wouldn’t allow me to let go of,” Wind said.  “I just had to do it.” Wind described how the idea for the camp came into existence. [img_assist|nid=6526|title=Participants in First Hornbecks Quilt Camp had a chance to visit and admire different quilts during the camp|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]“I grew up in Hornbeck,” Wind said. “I met my husband, David, who was in the Air Force and stationed at what was England AFB in Alexandria.  We eventually moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, but I would periodically come home to Hornbeck to visit. “The grandmother who raised me taught me to ‘hand piece’ quilts,” Wind said. “When I left home my mindset was ‘I’ve been there and done that, and I’m not gonna do it anymore!’ It just goes to show you that God often has other ideas. “About 20 years ago,’ Wind continued, ‘a friend in Miami, Fla., introduced me to ‘rotary cutting and strip piecing’ and there was no … [Read more...]

By Diana Chandler, Regional Reporter NEW ORLEANS – “I’m a survivor,” Mary Rose Washington said during audience feedback at the recent “No Greater Love Conference” on domestic violence and sexual assault at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Women and men in the morning session joined Washington in praise, some echoing her proclamation. [img_assist|nid=6528|title=Teens, Single Adults, Men, Women, Couples and Friendships were targeted by the No Greater Love Conference.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Rochelle Head-Dunham, a psychiatrist with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, had just finished talking to the group of 25 adults on the facts and myths of domestic violence, part of Franklin Avenue’s first such outreach, with sessions targeting teenagers, single adults, men, women, couples and friendships. “The illness is in the perpetrator. The victim is never to blame,” Head-Dunham said. She cautioned victims not to remain in situations of abuse, whether physical or psychological. “Don’t get it twisted. This has nothing to do with God, this whole notion of staying in a [violent] marriage,” the psychiatrist said. “I’m a Christian. I absolutely believe in prayer. Pray and do, ’cause faith … [Read more...]

By Jerry Love, Director of Planned Giving Louisiana Baptist Foundation It’s 1939. A young lady steps off a bus in a small, predominantly French-speaking town in South Louisiana. She and the two friends with her spend the day going door to door, looking for people interested in starting a Bible study. Before the end of the day, and before the bus returns to pick up the three, they have found several adults and children interested in joining them to study the scriptures. This was how young Kathryn Carpenter spent her life in those years. She and her friends were students at Baptist Bible Institute, now New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Over the next few years, the trio would return regularly to Napoleonville to worship, study God’s Word, and grow a congregation. Eventually the small Bible study became a new church. Carpenter was a charter member. This story is but a piece of Carpenter’s lifetime of service and a building block in the Legacy of Faith she established through dedicated service to her Lord and Savior. Born in Baton Rouge and raised in the small town of Norwood, Carpenter accepted Christ as a young teenager. By her own accounts, she felt as if God always had a specific task to do in His … [Read more...]

By Katrina Cassel, Living with Teenagers What’s an evening meal like at your house? Is there a mad rush to different activities? Does everyone microwave their food at different times and eat separately? Do you sit down together to share daily events? When your children were little, you probably made sure that everyone ate together. You realized that this was important for your youngsters. You knew your little ones would eat more nutritiously, learn table manners, take turns talking, improve their vocabulary by listening to others, and keep in touch with other family members. [img_assist|nid=6531|title=The family meal still remains a primary factor in influencing children.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]As your children grew older, though, soccer practice, piano lessons, cheerleading practice, marching band, sports competitions, and part-time jobs were added to the schedule. You may find there are activities every night of the week that interfere with being together at dinnertime. Family meals may not seem so important now that your children are teens. After all, they know how to talk, and they’ve learned their manners (hopefully). However, it is still important to have that family … [Read more...]

By James B. Law, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church, Gonzales, La. In preparation for a recent study on heaven, I Googled the word and discovered the first five pages of the 142,000,000 references on the Worldwide Web took me on an incredibly confusing journey. From my Google search, I learned from a YouTube clip that a Bryan Adams’ song, “Heaven,” claims that heaven is having your girlfriend in your arms. [img_assist|nid=5978|title=Jim Law, Senior Pastor First Baptist Church Gonzales|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=94|height=100]When I clicked on Wikipedia for some help, I read for 45 minutes a conflicting survey of heaven among world religions.  From there I consulted a link with ABC News, and Barbara Walters’ attempt to answer questions like, “Where is heaven?” and “How do you get there?”  Trust me on this one, if you want clarity, don’t bother going to Google. My Internet research allowed me to discover how heaven has been trivialized. There was a nightclub in Seattle called “Heaven,” and there was a restaurant named “Burger Heaven.”  And of course, Disney has an animated film assuring you that all dogs go to heaven. The trivialization of heaven has brought a manifest scorn regarding the future hope and home … [Read more...]