LA Baptists minister in Haiti despite danger; US House OKs transgender sports ban, unlikely to pass Senate; GA church gets grant from deceased MI businessman.

Escalating violence may have forced Louisiana Reach Haiti to halt most operations in the country, however, the ministry has found other ways to share the hope of Jesus in Haiti.

Ministry President Darrin Badon said he wishes LRH could have continued “business as usual” in Haiti, but he is grateful the Lord has allowed the ministry to move forward despite the many challenges. The ministry is a partnership between the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Haiti Baptist Convention, Louisiana Baptist churches and the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home & Family Ministries.

In January 2010, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Louisiana Baptists were among the first to provide disaster relief, and for a decade they maintained a ministry presence through mission trips, sometimes multiple times each year. 

The U.S. House of Representatives limited female sports to biological women in a party-line vote last week, but the U.S. Senate is expected to block the bill.

Southern Baptist advocates for women’s rights applauded the House bill as the issue plays out in state legislatures and in U.S. courts.

Katie McCoy, women’s ministry director at the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Center for Church Health, says beyond physical differences in men and women, the bill acknowledges female agency which allows women to pursue goals without the threat of attribution.

Dan Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said Scripture and science support the exclusion of so-called “transwomen” from women’s sports.

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A Michigan businessman who died more than a decade ago is helping a Georgia congregation with the cost of a new church building.

Construction crews were at the future site of Hope Fellowship on Monday, preparing to pour foundations for what will be the first permanent home for the five-year-old church plant.

Pastor Barry Crocker said the late businessman John C. Lasko is playing an instrumental role in the project, though he died in 2011 at age 90.

Lasko had sold the company he founded, Republic Tool and Die in Belleville, Mich., a year before he died and created what came to be known as the John C. Lasko Foundation Trust dedicated solely to building church sanctuaries around the world.

Last month, word came that Hope Fellowship had been approved for $782,678 to cover the remaining cost of their new 200-seat sanctuary.