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NEW ORLEANS BAPTIST
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY EXTENSION CENTER
2008-09 Annual Report
Dr. John H. Robson, Director
Graduate Inmate Ministers continue to make great
strides in our missionary ministries. From prisons
all over Louisiana we receive reports of their
evangelistic and discipling skills. After fifteen
years of maturing the Angola Seminary is more than
an experiment, it is an integral part of prison
reform, rehabilitation and education.
An
exciting new approach by Department of Corrections
Executive Director, Jimmy LeBlanc, is his
recognition of the NOBTS curriculum taught at Angola
and his call to add a DOC certification in various
bi-vocational teaching fields i.e., auto mechanics,
welding, secondary education, graphic arts,
horticulture, etc. Our missionaries will do ministry
as well as teach other skills.
Most prisons in Louisiana have inmates who hope to
rehabilitate and gain parole. The majority of our
men are “lifers” who will go and teach and win
others. If a younger man who is incarcerated is
discipled and taught a job skill he will help change
the streets of Louisiana. To this end the seminary
is working. Not only are churchmen being enriched in
leadership but godly teachers are being placed in
strategic prison settings.
Graduation is scheduled for May 18, 2010. Some
forty-five to fifty men will be granted a BA in
Christian Ministries.
Soon the North American Mission Board will post a
twenty-seven minute documentary on the NOBTS “Bible
College”. Churches should be able to secure a DVD of
this program after it airs nationally.
This past summer, the Angola inmate ministers saw 65
men gain certification in an eight- course program
sponsored by the NOBTS Providence Learning Center.
This non-accredited program has about 400 graduates.
Professors who have recently taught are: Dr. Eddie
Campbell, Rev. Bill Hughes, and Dr. John Gibson from
on campus and from the greater Baton Rouge area;
Rev. Jim Efferson, Rev. Neal Green, Rev. Earnest
Gardener, Rev. Andrew Voss, Rev. Ken Irvin, Dr. Joe
Alain and Dr. Robson.
As
a point of reference, one may see the Leavell
College Christian Ministries curriculum catalog
on-line at
www.nobts.edu (The Angola degree is almost
exactly the same).
Angola is no longer a scary place. Christ is
claiming many lives. The men of Baton Rouge Baptists
continue to aid and contribute to the entire
mission. Thanks to the Association for what you are
doing to bring the Kingdom of Christ to a dry and
thirsty land.
Oh
yes, the Angola seminary needs money! We receive
$10,000.00 from the Georgia Barnette State Missions
Offering and are dependent on the generosity of
churches and individuals for the other $35,000.00
needed annually under the designated offerings given
through BAGBR. |
