By Mary Vanrheenen Does the word “witnessing” make you feel uncomfortable? Just hearing the word can trigger a lot of feelings in me ranging from guilt (I ought to be doing that!) to fear (ditto) to aversion (that aggressive ‘witnesser’ is not a good advertisement for Christianity!). In contrast, the Romany brothers and sisters my husband … Continue reading
NEWS RELEASEFebruary 17, 2023 LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — The council guiding the merger of three Cooperative Baptist Fellowship state organizations into a single Great Rivers Fellowship has selected two people to lead the organization into the future. Brittany Caldwell, a pastor and program coordinator, and Shane McNary, a CBF field personnel serving in Slovakia and … Continue reading
By Caleb Mynatt After Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana in August 2021, there has understandably been a scramble to pick up the pieces. The storm prompted a nationwide disaster response, one to which the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues to contribute as long-term recovery efforts persist. Andy Hale, senior pastor at University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, … Continue reading
By Caleb Mynatt As a child, Lawrence “Larry” Foy lived right across from a church. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. At his childhood home in Winnsboro, Louisiana, when folks were at the church, Foy would go out the backdoor of his house to avoid even speaking to the churchgoers right across the … Continue reading
By Brian Varble Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress. James 1:27 James reminds us that we need to take care of the most vulnerable and needy. There are times when all of us may be considered the most vulnerable, our vulnerability may … Continue reading
By Rick Burnette Kenny Phillips’ fourth trip to hurricane-battered Lake Charles was in early March. Phillips, who serves as CBF Florida’s Disaster Response Coordinator, visited Lake Charles for the first time soon after Hurricane Laura struck the coast of southwest Louisiana on August 27, 2020. Transferring a CBF Florida equipment trailer and helping … Continue reading
Not only is Southwest Louisiana continuing to reel from the impact of two hurricanes in September and October, recovery efforts have been hampered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite obstacles, the recovery partnership involving CBF and the National Baptist Churches of America is still on track with the ongoing involvement of LaConya Ceasar, a jointly … Continue reading
By Caleb Mynatt As the winds stirred and the sky turned to black on August 27, 2020, the citizens of Lake Charles, La., were confronted with a reality that is all too familiar. Hurricanes hitting the Louisiana coast have become an almost annual occurrence these days, but not often does a Hurricane Laura, a Category … Continue reading
By Rick Burnette Most of us are aware that the 2020 hurricane season was unrivaled. By the end of November there had been a record breaking 31 tropical systems, 30 named storms and 13 hurricanes, six of which were major. This includes the 12 storms that made landfall in the U.S.; also a record. Keeping … Continue reading
By Rick Burnette Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall along the southwest Louisiana coast on August 27, 2020, impacting numerous communities, including Lake Charles, La. High winds devastated the city and surrounding areas. Almost six weeks later, on October 9, Hurricane Delta struck the same region as a Category 2 storm, undoing recent … Continue reading