Baptist Press Archive

Friday, October 21, 2005

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  • Southern Baptist Disaster Relief gears up for next task as Hurricane Wilma approaches
    by Mickey Noah, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--First, there was Katrina. Then Rita. Now, North America’s third-largest disaster relief network is gearing up for yet another major hurricane, Wilma, expected to hit the western tip of South Florida no later than Tuesday, Oct. 25.

    “Hurricane Wilma is unpredictable at this point,” said Mickey Caison, manager of the North American Mission Board’s disaster operations center, which has been operating around the clock since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in late August. “Weather models show Wilma could hit as early as Monday or maybe not until Tuesday morning.” Read More

  • New Orleans churches struggle to resume worship & ministry
    by Sherri Brown, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

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    Back in church


    Becky Boykin and Renee Page greet each other at First Baptist Church in New Orleans during the first worship service since Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Sherri Brown


    NEW ORLEANS (BP)--They sang from a screen fueled by a borrowed generator. They hugged friends and waved to others across the sanctuary. And they asked the all-important post-hurricane question: “How did you do?”

          It was the first time that First Baptist Church -- significantly smaller in number but no less enthusiastic –- met for worship since Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans.

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    Flooded flag


    Lakeview Baptist Church's Christian flag never turned over during the New Orleans floods, but it bears the marks of the waters. The New Orleans congregation lost everything to water and mold damage. Photo by Sherri Brown


          The church is built up enough so that the floodwaters stopped at its doorstep. But the church didn’t escape damage. Winds ripped away about a third of one building. Rain poured into Sunday School classrooms. Offices and church records were destroyed. Parts of the buildings that escaped damage soon showed signs of growing black mold. Weeks after the storm, there is still no electricity.

          “Everything around us stood in four to six feet of floodwater for weeks. The grass is dead, the trees are dying,” said David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist.

    But when the first worship service since Katrina was held Oct. 9, Crosby offered a prayer of thanks to “the God of storm and wind and rain.” First Baptist New Orleans will recover, but many other churches in the area may not. Read More

  • Paper: Mo. Baptist exec acquiesced to breakaway entities
    by Staff, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)--A deposition of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s former executive director shows his acquiescence to breakaway efforts by convention entities, despite having received counsel from the convention’s attorney that state law would enforce clauses prohibiting the entities from changing their articles of incorporation without convention approval, according to a report in the convention’s newsjournal The Pathway. Read More

  • Small church gives big to Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
    by Shawn Hendricks, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    SURREY, British Columbia (BP)--As the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering season begins, many Southern Baptist church leaders search for unique ways to spur their church to give to overseas missions. Darla Richardson, who promoted missions at a small church in Canada, learned that sometimes all you have to do is simply ask. Read More

  • Hate crimes language removed, but floor battle forthcoming
    by Tom Strode, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. Senate’s version of a bill toughening supervision of sex offenders gained committee approval Oct. 20 without including language that would expand hates crimes protections to encompass homosexuality. Read More

  • Hondurans give $18,000 to Hispanic church hit by Katrina
    by Erin Curry, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    METAIRIE, La. (BP)--Seven years ago, members of Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in Metairie, La., had compassion on fellow believers in Honduras hit hard by Hurricane Mitch. And now the favor is being returned many times over as Good Shepherd recovers from Hurricane Katrina.

    Read More

  • Church went door-to-door to meet needs after Katrina
    by Staff, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    MOBILE, Ala. (BP)--As thousands of volunteers descended upon the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina’s destructive winds and storm surge leveled entire communities, members of Dayspring Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., decided the best way to help people start to recover was to walk house-to-house and knock on any doors that remained intact. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: The mark you leave behind
    by David Jeremiah, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    EL CAJON, Calif. (BP)--She thought she had gotten away with it. Francisca Rojas of Buenos Aires, Argentina, had murdered two of her own sons. In an attempt to deflect the blame, she had cut her own throat as well, then blamed the attack on a nearby ranch worker named Velasquez. Though the poor man proclaimed his innocence, he was arrested. Read More

  • FIRST-PERSON: Good sense needed for ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’
    by Phil Boatwright, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. (BP)--Set in the 1950s, the documentary-tinged drama “Good Night, and Good Luck,” opening in theaters Oct. 21, focuses on a famed TV reporter who, at the height of his power, used his position to fight what he considered a threat to America -– Joe McCarthy. Read More