5875 W. 70th St

Shreveport LA 71129

318-686-5736 FAX: 687-9701

Return Service Requested E-mail: carlene@nwlba.org

Website: www.nwlba.org

www.Facebook.com/NWLBA

Hours: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm/Mon-Thur.

8:30 am - 12:00 noon/Friday

Lane Moore, Director of Missions

Church News & Other News

Staff Opportunities

PASTOR MUSIC YOUTH CHILDREN OTHER

Mooringsport

Northwoods

Trinity Heights

Westlake

Emmanuel/Vivian-PT

Waller-PT

Westwood-PT

Summer Grove-FT

Cross Point-PT Princeton FBC-PT Westwood-PT Vivian FBC-FT Woodridge-FT

Belcher-PT Clarion-PT Ferry Lake-PT N. Keithville-PT

Ban Suk-Assoc. Pastor/FT English Speaking Emmanuel/Vivian-Pianist Gray-Pianist/Praise Band Haughton-Discipleship/Education Westwood-Pianist

Staff Updates

UPCOMING Monthly EVENTS

January 14

North Caddo/Pastors, Staff 11:30 am

Main Street Restaurant Gilliam, LA

20 Bi-Vocational 6:30 pm Associational Office

Non-Profit Org US Postage Paid Shreveport LA Permit 37

NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES

Staff Opportunities

Ray Boswell 1928-2019

Ray was honored at the 2018 Annual Meeting for his service to Association ministry for the past 70 years. He had served as an officer and on numerous committees over the past decades. Ray also served as President of the Louisiana Baptist Convention in 1983-84, and was the last layman to hold that position.

Cindy Davis 1962-2019

Cindy served as Children’s Minister, 2002-2008, at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Shreveport.

Family & Friends Sympathy

Fellowship Trips

Do not wish to receive this publication? Please contact carlene@nwlba.org or 318-686-5736

Staff Changes

Northwoods: Josh Lewis, Inter im Pastor

Ellerbe: PETRA AND ISRAEL-Feb. 4-13, 2020. Come explore the breathtaking ruins of Petra and walk in the footsteps of Jesus throughout Israel. Cost-$3,885.00. For more information, Contact Dennis Sims at Ellerbe Baptist. 318-798-1988 or dennis@ellerbebaptist.org

Pastor Anniversaries Kendall Holley 1998 Broadacres

Gevan Spinney 2003 First Haughton

Mike Anderson 2004 Haynes Avenue

Jim Gstohl 2005 Tower

Tracy Graham 2006 Norris Ferry

Brett Puckitt 2018 First Vivian

Scott O`Rear 2019 Belle Park

Broadmoor: Grief Share/SHIFT Grief Recovery support groups for

adults (Grief Share) and children (SHIFT) grades 1-6 and 7-12.

Spring cycle begins Jan. 13, 6-8 pm. Grief Share-room 1308, SHIFT

-Children’s Department. 13 week cycle of sessions. For more

information, call 318-868-6554 or TCPCCC.tv

Calvary: NIGHT OF PRAISE 2020, Jan. 10, 6 pm. Featuring:

Allen Family, Larry Alton Trio, Donnie Crosswhite, Skeeter Snider,

Sonia Barber, Rocky Paul Maddox & Rose Park Choir, and MUCH

MORE!

Woodridge: Come join area churches for a night of

fun, Jan.24, 6-9pm. Fun learning, practicing for

upcoming drills, games, pizza & more! RSVP to

Teresa Small, 318-773-1611 or 318-949-2441 by

Jan. 22. $5.00/child & adult attending. LOUISIANA LIFE MARCH NORTHWEST

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2020, 2-4 pm

Shreveport Festival Plaza

101 Crockett St., Shreveport, LA 71101 Because of construction to the Texas Street bridge, the route will be changed this year. The March will leave Shreveport’s Festival Plaza, go north on Market Street, turn west on Texas Street and end at First Methodist Church. The route is 6/10th of a mile.

Congratulations to Claudia Lucas, Church Hostess at Pinecroft Baptist Church, who turns 100 in January. For many decades, Claudia’s ministry has been coordinating the kitchen. She has NO plans to Retire!

Baptist News

2019

On December 2 & 3 over a

thousand seniors made the Bethany

Camp & Conference Center their

destination. The Bethany Event Center was filled with Christmas

songs, gospel music and laughter, all packed into a two hour

Christmas Show.

Three Bridges from Nashville, TN, performed a wide variety of

music to set the Christmas Spirit. Comedian Tim Lovelace from

Knoxville, TN, kept everyone holding their sides with laughter.

Soloist, Barry LeBlanc, began each show with traditional

Christmas classics.

Volume 50, Number 1

January, 2020

This Association exists to assist our family of churches in reaching and

discipling people for Christ.

Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association

CALL TO PRAYER V IS SET FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, JANUARY 26th

The Northwest Association will once again began the new year with a night of prayer. Bellaire Baptist Church will host our larger Northwest family for a night of praise and prayer to the Father. The evening will be filled with individual and corporate prayer, and the Bellaire Choir and Praise team will lead us in worship. The night will be divided into four devotional segments.

Praying For A Repentant Heart-Pastor Billy Sutton, Redeemer

Praying For The Church-Pastor Kenny Joyner, Willow Point

Praying For Those In Spiritual & Civil Authority-Pastor Randy Harper, Bellaire

Praying For Those Who Are Hurting & Broken-Pastor David Rice, Brookwood

During the segment of prayer for those in civil authority, members of law enforcement, fire fighters, and EMS, along with Caddo and Bossier educators present will be prayed over. Encourage those in civil service in your

church family to be present to be recognized at the fifth annual CALL TO PRAYER.

*Display the inside poster in your Church or Sunday School room.

Last year’s Call to Prayer IV at Broadmoor

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! At least that’s what I’ve always heard the Christmas season called. But what makes this time wonderful? Is it the fact that we can shop on Amazon and not have to see the inside of a Walmart? Or maybe that we get to see family and friends that we spend the other 364 days avoiding? Well, maybe. What I think makes this time wonderful is that it’s a re-minder that God came to rescue us. That at the center of Christmas is God’s mission of redemption.

At the Shreveport BCM, we seek to see as many students as we can presented with the truth of the gospel. We seek to see our students who are already Christians be active and passionate about sharing the gospel in Shreve-port and beyond. Many students have gotten to hear the Word in our free lunch programs and bible studies. We couldn’t do this ministry without the faithful support of the churches of the Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association. So along with “Merry Christmas” let me say a sincere, “thank you!” As you all enjoy this special season, I hope you’ll consider joining us in this special ministry, and together we can help more and more college students learn about the real reason for

Christmas – the Gospel!

We recently observed the annual World Day of Prayer. As a Council, we felt it important to direct our focus closer to home, so we prayed for the Shreveport-Bossier area. Congress-man Mike Johnson shared prayer requests for his work in Washing-ton. He told us there is a room close to where meetings are held that is a place several Congressmen go and kneel for prayer for our country and its leaders. We invited first responders to share specific things and activities to pray for that they see every day. Community Liaison Officers told us that many of their calls are for domestic issues, and one specific request was to pray for families to mend. Family deterioration is many times the beginning of criminal activi-ty. A retired teacher shared the life of teachers and their students. Lack of funds for supplies and lack of parental support affect the learning process more than many may realize. A Barksdale wife asked for prayers for the families of airmen/women. She asked specifically for prayer for their marriages, as deployment and the secrets the soldiers must keep can become trials for their marriages. We heard from a Bossier sheriff’s representative who reminded us that our conduct represents every-thing we are a part of—our job, an organization, our family. We can see a common thread — we need to pray for a renewal of God’s family structure. Each speaker joined a different table for prayer time, where we prayed specifically for him or her, for a specific area of Shreveport-Bossier and for the missionaries who had birth-days. Dick and Trisha Price recently spoke to our WMU at The Glen, telling us about the work in India. We are heading into the holiday season and WMU wishes for you and your family a season of love and caring, celebrating the Birth

of our Savior, Jesus.

Stephen Craver

A Pastor’s Perspective

Merry December! Or something like that. I feel like it was

just yesterday that Robert and I were talking about his retirement

and my

beginning of leading Bethany. With that, I am so grateful for his

and Joan’s investment in Bethany. It makes transition easier when

there is a strong foundation to stand on.

We are getting ready for a great Christmas season out here at

Bethany. It starts with Branson @ Bethany and approximately 1200

plus guests to feed. Then, as I write this article, we have 10 secured

Christmas parties. Thank you to every group that has chosen

Bethany to host your party. We are honored and excited to serve

you.

There are so many things that I am thankful for as we end 2019 – a

great team, a strong love for this place, new amenities, great part-

nerships, financial investment, old and new friends coming out to

Bethany but most importantly, the lives that have been affected and

changed while at Bethany.

When you think of Bethany Camp & Conference Center, I truly

hope you find a “place where life feels better!” That is the tag line

we work under. Whether that is inviting Christ into your heart,

recommitting your life to Christ, accepting a call to ministry,

repentance, finding community or just being in the presence of the

Lord, life DOES get better and feels better. We have the privilege of

seeing that life-change out here week after week.

So, I want to say “thank you” to the men and women who have

poured vision, life, money, work and time into this place. We are so

blessed to have an association that LOVES its camp.

Let’s keep working together to make Bethany Camp & Conference

center the best it can be!!!

Jesus told the following story.

Matthew 21:28-32 - 28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went

to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “He an-

swered, ‘I don’t want to’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then

the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he an-

swered, but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They

said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and

prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to

you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors

and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even

change your minds then and believe him.”

Combined with the verses that precede these, it is quite clear what Jesus

primarily communicates to the audience. Sinners are turning from lives of

rebellion against God and are coming to faith in Christ. Religious people,

having reputations of godliness, are rejecting the prophets God has sent,

along with the Messiah, the very Son of God.

But there is another element in the parable: the work to be done in God’s

vineyard. In fact, there are four realities in the one phrase: “My son, go

work in the vineyard today.”

#1 THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE

The church is the hope of the world, as the gospel goes out from it. The

work of the church is just that: work. People regularly lead, teach, and

serve. Working in a vineyard, on a farm, or in the task of regularly invest-

ing into people’s lives is hard work. It requires time, effort, focus, energy,

and endurance. There is work to be done.

#2 THE WORK IS THE FATHER’S

The father says to His son: “go work in the vineyard.” The vineyard be-

longs to the Father. Christians are not sitting around these days. They are

all busy, but in whose vineyard? Are they laboring in God’s vineyard or

their own? Too often, God’s vineyard gets the leftovers while other “more

pressing” matters get our best effort.

#3 THE NEED IS NOW

“Go work today,” said the Father. As Christians, we often put off God’s

service to another season. We justify our decision by claiming we lack the

experience for the task. We justify by claiming we lack the available time.

We allow our hearts to become calloused to the appeals of the church to

serve and help fulfill the mission to which we were called. The need is

great. The need is now.

#4 THE SON HAS A DUTY

There was a time when I was not a son, and then there was a time when I

answered the call and accepted God’s invitation to be His son. When He

called me out of darkness and into the light, he called me from something

and to something. He called me into the family’s work. Being a son or

daughter of God has both rights and responsibilities.

As we conclude one year and prepare for another year of serving God,

may we renew our focus on the Father’s work. May God grant us a new

level of urgency for the task. May we be found faithful until the Lord re-

turns or calls us home.

Chris Young has been the pastor of South Bossier Baptist Church since

2013. Chris and his wife, Rachel, have 3 sons.