During considerations of the proposal to put the operation and publication of the Baptist Message under the Executive Board’s staff, this editor has remained publicly silent. What to do about where the paper’s operation and publication was a Baptist Message Board, Executive Board and Louisiana Baptist Convention decision. While I had strong thoughts and feelings about the matter, I did not feel a departing editor should try to sway opinions and actions for the future. During considerations of the proposal to put the operation and publication of the Baptist Message under the Executive Board’s staff, this editor has remained publicly silent. What to do about where the paper’s operation and publication was a Baptist Message Board, Executive Board and Louisiana Baptist Convention decision. While I had strong thoughts and feelings about the matter, I did not feel a departing editor should try to sway opinions and actions for the future. But messengers to the Louisiana Baptist Convention last week spoke clearly to the matter on two points. The first was when messengers voted to alter the 2006 budget proposed by the Executive Board. All agencies of the convention were reduced, but the Baptist Message allocation was … [Read more...]

My wife Leah has endured much at the hands of her husband, especially when traveling in my trusty (?)1997 two-door, four-wheel drive, 168,000 mile Tahoe becomes involved. She has been stuck in snow, stuck in a ditch, stranded more than once in the truck with a bass boat attached (twice in exactly the same place), stuck beside an interstate with a broken fuel pump, out of gas and stopped dead by a faulty battery cable connection. She has endured this peacefully, but now, when I ask if she would like to go somewhere with me, she asks skeptically, “In what?” My wife Leah has endured much at the hands of her husband, especially when traveling in my trusty (?)1997 two-door, four-wheel drive, 168,000 mile Tahoe becomes involved. She has been stuck in snow, stuck in a ditch, stranded more than once in the truck with a bass boat attached (twice in exactly the same place), stuck beside an interstate with a broken fuel pump, out of gas and stopped dead by a faulty battery cable connection. She has endured this peacefully, but now, when I ask if she would like to go somewhere with me, she asks skeptically, “In what?” She tells folks, “I identify travel disaster with Lynn’s green monster.” Not long ago, she went on a trip … [Read more...]

The Louisiana Baptist Message will continue to operate under a separate board of trustees after a proposal to move the newspaper within the state convention structure was soundly rejected last week. The Louisiana Baptist Message will continue to operate under a separate board of trustees after a proposal to move the newspaper within the state convention structure was soundly rejected last week. The proposal to change the newspaper structure easily was rejected during a called business session at last week’s annual Louisiana Baptist Convention. The vote was at least two-to-one against the idea on a show-of-ballots vote. Approval of the move would have required a two-thirds vote in favor. The action capped business at the annual meeting and sent a Baptist Message search committee back to the drawing board to find a replacement for retiring Editor Lynn P. Clayton. Clayton has announced plans to conclude more than 27 years as editor at the end of 2005. His service of almost three decades was honored last week during the annual report of the newspaper to the convention. A pair of former Baptist Message trustee chairs offered words of reflection. “It’s my pleasure to tell you a little something about my … [Read more...]

Just as the believers of the early Christian church were known for changing their world for Christ, Louisiana Baptists should have the same reputation, Fred Luter said. By Brian Blackwell LBM Newswriter Just as the believers of the early Christian church were known for changing their world for Christ, Louisiana Baptists should have the same reputation, Fred Luter said. “When people see (Louisiana Baptists), they’ll say ‘there they are,’” Luter said during the Louisiana Baptist Pastors’ Conference at McClendon Baptist Church in West Monroe last week. “They’ll say ‘there are those people who are turning this community upside down.’” Luter, who serves as pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was one of six speakers at the conference, held prior to last week’s annual Louisiana Baptist Convention. In his sermon, Luter cited Acts 1, which chronicled how a small number of believers rapidly expanded the early Christian church. Luter said the passage reveals three  things that occur when a believer is empowered by the Holy spirit. They are: • First, a Christian becomes a new person. “These were the same believers who just a few days earlier were running scared,” Luter said of … [Read more...]

Weekly announcements Potpourri START – Start church: Casey Johnson, guest speaker; Dec. 4, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.; Jeff Smart, pastor. GONZALES – Central church: Bible Conference; Dec. 5-7, 7-9 p.m.; Usama Dakdok, featured speaker; conferences are free; Jay Avance, pastor. MANSFIELD – First church: Stephen and Jane Milam, IMB missionaries, guest speakers; Dec. 4, 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; Roy “Thumper” Miller, pastor. JENA – First church: Ladies Ensemble and The Men’s Quartet in concert; Dec. 4, 6 p.m.; Dominick C. DiCarlo Jr., pastor. DEQUINCY – First church: Suzanne Kelly, accompanied by Matt Dixon on guitar and Sharon Graham on piano, in concert; Dec. 4, 6:30 p.m.; Mike Paris, interim pastor. PINEVILLE – Louisiana College: Baptismal Rally, sponsored by North Rapides Association; Nov. 27, 6 p.m. in the Granberry Conference Center; Herb Dickerson and Joe Aguillard, guest speakers; Jason and Tina McCorvey, worship leaders; Herb Dickerson, director of missions; Joe Aguillard, president. Youth BATON ROUGE – Woodlawn church:  Christmas program presented by the preschool choir; Dec. 4, 6 p.m.; Adam Holcomb, minister of music; Tommy G. Middleton, pastor. WEST MONROE – New Chapel Hill church: … [Read more...]

When the bells chimed at 10 a.m. Nov. 6, Sandy Creek Baptist Church near Liberty, N.C, inaugurated its 250th year in ministry. When the bells chimed at 10 a.m. Nov. 6, Sandy Creek Baptist Church near Liberty, N.C, inaugurated its 250th year in ministry. Inside the white country church, pastor Travis Brock and guests from as far away as Georgia, Texas and Illinois exchanged greetings and waited in anticipation of the event, a full year in the making. The congregation and choir sang old standards such as “Amazing Grace” and “I Love to Tell the Story” with both smiles and tears. “It is humbling to think what God has done in this place,” Brock said before the celebration. “One pastor I spoke with said that God had done more through this church than through any other since Pentecost.” When the Sandy Creek church was founded, the United States did not exist. The year was 1755, and two recent converts to the Baptist faith made their way into a very rural and isolated Randolph County. There, with 16 others, they founded the first Separate Baptist Church in the South. Shubal Stearns and Daniel Marshall both believed that they would be well received among the settlers in North Carolina who favored emotional, … [Read more...]