March 10, 1999
John LaNoue retiring
to write a 'life message' from God
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___After 17 years on the Texas Baptist Men staff and 45 years in vocational Christian service, John LaNoue says he is "stepping out a little early" to write a message from God.
___LaNoue, 64, announced to the TBM Executive Board at its Feb. 19-20 meeting his plan to retire March 31.
___"In God's will there's a timing, and that timing is very important," LaNoue said. "God's given me a life message that I need to share with other preachers."
___The message is oneLaNoue learned through disaster relief ministries in Iran and North Korea.
JOHN LANOUE
___In 1991, LaNoue and a team of trained volunteers traveled halfway around the world to set up field kitchens in the Kurdish refugee camps of Iran. But after obtaining the necessary visas in London, they were detained for more than a week in Cyprus. The crew spent that time in intense prayer and Bible study.
___"The Lord held us out for nine days. It took that long for him to break us, to show us that all our strength, all our resources, all our training, all our diplomacy was not enough. Only by his power would we succeed," LaNoue recalled.
___"We found out that 1,000 people a day died in Iran during that time--people we could have helped. It's a stark expression of just how expensive sin is. Our sin of pride cost the lives of 9,000 people.
___"That experience out of Iran was a correction point for me--a revelation of what it means to walk with God in ministry."
___Similarly, before LaNoue was allowed to enter North Korea in 1997 as part of a humanitarian group monitoring the distribution of famine relief supplies, he was delayed six days.
___Those days of prayer and preparation provided him an occasion for learning to listen to God. During his 85 days in North Korea, LaNoue filled a 180-page journal with his impressions and with the message he believed God gave to him.
___LaNoue is retiring six months away from his 65th birthday to devote time to writing that message and to record experiences of answered prayer.
___"I feel like the Lord has written a love letter to Texas Baptists, and I can't hold that up," he said. "The Lord deserves his glory, and it is sin to rob him of the glory he is due."
___Once he has completed the writing that he feels called to do, LaNoue wants to resume working with TBM-related ministries such as disaster relief in a volunteer capacity.
___"I'm not retiring from Texas Baptist Men. I'm simply retiring from the staff," he said.
___LaNoue is a native of Beaumont and a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. He earned his master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and his doctorate from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
___He was pastor of four churches in Texas and one in Illinois before entering student work in 1962, serving as Baptist Student Ministries director at the University of Houston and later for several schools throughout East Texas.
___He worked as state youth coordinator and associate in church services for the Baptist General Convention of Texas and as church recreation consultant for the Sunday School Board.
___LaNoue built 17 mobile clinics for Texas Baptists' River Ministry and designed the first disaster relief mobile unit for Texas Baptists. He wrote 13 books on campcraft and was a pioneer among Southern Baptists in using wilderness camping and mountaineering as avenues for ministry and discipleship.
___LaNoue and his wife, Kaywin, live near Lindale. They have two adult children, John and Lydia.Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!