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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

NAMB officials say state leaders’ complaints are flattering

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALPHARETTA, Ga. (LBM) – The three officers of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention have casually dismissed a list of concerns about a lack of partnership – views expressed by six state executive directors who stated specific complaints in a Aug. 12 letter to Kevin Ezell, NAMB president, and his trustees, and to the SBC Executive Committee and its president, Ronnie Floyd. Five Western and one Midwestern state convention leaders wrote that chief among their issues was the unilateral approach NAMB has taken with state conventions outside the South with regard to NAMB’s new Strategic Partnership Agreement. Randy Adams (Northwest Baptist Convention), Bill Agee (California Southern Baptist Convention), Joe Bunce (Baptist Convention of New Mexico), Randy Covington (Alaska Baptist Resource Network), Jack Kwok (State Convention of Baptists in Ohio) and Chris Martin (Hawaii-Pacific Baptist Convention), were unanimous in their view that “our longstanding partnerships with NAMB may finally be coming to an end in any meaningful sense.” A news report on that letter can be accessed using the link, baptistmessage.com/six-state-execs. The Aug. 17 reply … [Read more...]

Disaster Relief efforts foster racial unity

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – While racial tensions continue to claim national headlines, the multi-state disaster relief response to one of the largest hurricanes ever to make landfall in the country is serving as an opportunity to build goodwill between ethnic groups in storm-affected parts of Louisiana. Hurricane Laura came ashore in the state with 150 mph winds and maintained its ferocity far inland, with tropical storm winds of 50 mph, gusting to 85 mph, recorded in Alexandria, about 130 miles north from where the eye of the storm struck the coast. The winds knocked out power to 579,000 homes and businesses in the state, but the total devastation in terms of lost homes and businesses has not yet been tallied. In Central Louisiana, comprising 10 parishes, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief, alone, has received 900 calls for help regarding damaged homes and property during the first week after the storm. The enormous response, especially by a predominately white Southern Baptist Disaster Relief organization, has alleviated many physical needs, but it also has brought some racial healing. MAGNOLIA STATE CONVERT Bob Thomas, a member of Highland Baptist Church in Senatobia, … [Read more...]