Marilyn Stewart

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- A raucous presidential election year turned personal for Lloyd Harsch, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary history professor, when his seminary inbox filled with more than 90,000 emails from distraught voters. Harsch is a member of this year's Electoral College. As Harsch, with wife Jill, travel this week to attend the presidential inauguration and ceremony festivities in Washington, D.C., emails and letters continue to come in. The nature of the emails gave Harsch pause.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological President Chuck Kelley reminded graduates at their Dec. 17 graduation that though trials come and the future may be uncertain, "knowing the end of the story" changes everything. Kelley compared God's promise that one day all wrongs will be set right -- the end of the story -- to finding an overlooked gift under the Christmas tree. "No one goes through life unscathed," Kelley said, noting that difficulties come to every life. "That's what makes the most overlooked gift so important."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Masey McLain, daughter of a Georgia Baptist pastor, knew God intended her to play the true-to-life movie character Rachel Joy Scott, a Columbine victim, even when the part first went to someone else. "I'm Not Ashamed," a PG-13 movie that opened nationwide Oct. 21, stars McLain in her first leading role. The PureFlix film, directed by Brian Baugh, co-stars actress Jennifer O'Neill, Sadie Robertson of "Duck Dynasty" fame, singer Jaci Velasquez and Nancy Stafford from the TV series "Matlock."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Russell Moore, in chapel at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, urged listeners not to depend on the wrong power for ministry and service. "When we buy into the premises of the world, the world's form of power, the world's form of strength, and the world's form of influence, we buy into something that not only is a lie, it also ultimately harms us," said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- International Mission Board president David Platt sounded the alarm against a "gospel-less" and "gospel-lite" missions approach that many are apparently adopting today. This dangerous trend, he said, promotes good deeds but minimizes a call for repentance. Platt spoke of his concerns during the Global Missions Emphasis chapel at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Sept. 6. He referenced debates taking place among some evangelical mission agencies regarding the usage of "Son of God" in translating Scripture or in interacting with Muslims.

BATON ROUGE, La. (BP) -- The catastrophic flooding in south Louisiana is quite different for Southern Baptist chaplains in the National Guard than anything they have seen before and, at the same time, all too familiar. Brigade Chaplain Page Brooks, a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary faculty member serving with Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, said even though record rainfall and flooding didn't come from a named storm, the devastation is much the same.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s trustee executive committee approved a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) major in apologetics and elected three new faculty members during their June 7 meeting. “Apologetics is an area of strength at NOBTS,” NOBTS Provost Steve Lemke said, adding that the Ph.D. major builds on the seminary’s three master’s degrees in apologetics and has generated “great student interest.”

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Having overcome a crisis of faith to complete her college degree, Brenda Thornton walked the chapel stage at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. Thornton was one of 13 LCIW graduates in the first-ever awarding of bachelor degrees at the prison by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Leavell College, marking a milestone for the program that began five years ago. "I'll be honest, I didn't think I would make it," said Thornton, who received a bachelor of Christian ministry degree with a minor in women's ministry May 18.

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- Rely on the certainty of God's love to bring hope to a hurting world, Chuck Kelley challenged graduates at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's commencement May 14. "His love will never loosen its grip on you," the NOBTS president said. "Whatever you go through, remember the love of God always triumphs in the end." Acknowledging that the graduates may have turned down more lucrative career paths, Kelley called on them to remember what drew them to theological education and ministry in the first place -- "the love of God."

NEW ORLEANS (BP) -- The suicide death of a beloved colleague after a sexual addiction came to light drove the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary community to their knees in prayer last August. They rose determined to help others caught in pornography and sexual addiction. "Recalibrate," a campus-wide conference with Greg Miller of Faithful & True, a ministry to those impacted by sexual addictions, came together as a response to the death of John Gibson, longtime professor at NOBTS' Leavell College on the opening day of classes on Aug. 24, 2015.