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By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
John Hebert isn’t a physician but he has diagnosed the condition of Louisiana Baptist church planting as extremely healthy.
So far this year, 22 churches have been planted through the end of August, thanks in part to support from the Cooperative Program and the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering.
Hebert expects that total to rise to 30 by the end of 2014. Last year, 16 new churches were planted in the state. Those new church starts in 2014 have reported 223 baptisms and 1,084 professions of faith.
“Our churches and associations have a healthy appetite for planting churches at this time,” said Hebert, missions and ministry team leader for Louisiana Baptists. “They are on board with the vision and enthusiastic about reaching their communities for Christ. It’s the healthiest appetite for church planting I have seen in this state since I began ministry here.”
Hebert, who has served on staff with the LBC since 1999, said the success of the convention’s 10-3-1 strategy is contributing to the healthy environment of church planting in the state.
This association planning strategy begins with a 10 year goal of assisting associations with research to determine how many churches should be started in that area. Then, a 3-year strategy is developed for a document that serves as a recruitment guide for church planters and primary sponsor churches. This helps form a document that is used to determine funding levels for associations engaged in ministry projects and church planting, which includes mission and ministry projects and new projections for the upcoming year.
Lane Corley, Louisiana Baptists church planting strategist, attributes the increase to consistent record giving to the Georgia Barnette Offering for State Missions, a SEND North America: New Orleans partnership and the embracement by all associations to develop church planting goals as stated by the President’s 2020 Commission.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of great things in church planting over the next few years,” he said. “And that means a lot of lives changed through people hearing the gospel and growing in Christ.”
Through 2020, the goal is to plant 300 new churches, with special attention given to New Orleans and south Louisiana.
Planting healthy, biblically sound, multiplying churches in the state is one of four avenues used to engage two audiences – the next generation and every people group – that is part of a plan that came about as a result of the President’s 2020 Commission. Appointed after the 2012 Louisiana Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in West Monroe, the President’s 2020 Commission was tasked with developing and recommending a seven-year ministry strategy for maximizing the effectiveness of Louisiana Baptists in reaching the lost through the year 2020.
As Louisiana Baptists personnel continue planning and praying about where to plant churches, Director of Church Planting James Jenkins said three of every four churches will be started along and south of the I-10 corridor. Currently, three of the four million who live in Louisiana are located in that area. Fourteen new church plants this year have been planted in South Louisiana while eight are new church plants from North Louisiana. Thirteen of the new church plants are non-Anglo.
“We’re trying to start churches in proportion to the population, in areas north along I-20 as well as in the south along I-10,” Jenkins said. “And God has the freedom to do what He wants. We feel that we have sought Him and this is the direction He wants us to go.”
One of those churches near the I-10 corridor is Still Water Baptist in New Orleans, which is currently meeting in the building that houses Edgewater Baptist Church. Still Water Baptist, which already has campuses in Hammond, Slidell and Ponchatoula, kicked off activities at its New Orleans location with an evening Bible study on July 29. The church will hold Saturday evening services as well.
Lonnie Tucker, pastor of Still Water Baptist, knows the needs are great and is committed to God’s will for the New Orleans campus. In the 1.5-mile radius of the church that includes 7,000 residents, two of the Louisiana Baptist churches are Anglo and another is Hispanic.
The Still Water congregation is mostly African-American while the Edgewater congregation has mainly Anglo members. Edgewater Baptist Pastor Chad Gilbert said his congregation has been supportive of the effort since the two churches began talking about the idea.
He views this as not a competition among each other but rather a partnership.
“One of the things we talked about this is not a white church helping a black church,” Gilbert said. “We see ourselves as a church reaching people regardless of race. This is a church helping to plant another church.”
The Send North America: New Orleans website estimates a ratio of 9,700 residents for every Southern Baptist church in the city limits, four times higher than many state conventions in the South. Of those living in New Orleans, only 13.9 percent are identified as evangelical, the website said. New Orleans is one of 32 cities in the US and Canada that is a focus of the North American Mission Board’s Send North America strategy of mobilizing Southern Baptist churches to plant churches in cities without a thriving gospel presence.
“I know Satan is opposed to this, especially with two churches saying we aren’t in competition but in partnerships,” Gilbert said. “That will be opposed by the evil one.
“We aren’t a small town; we are in the greater New Orleans area of over a million, where we have only 120 churches in the New Orleans Baptist Association,” he continued. “When you break down the numbers it’s just staggering just how many people aren’t churched. Honestly we need a lot more church plants than Pastor Lonnie. There is so much more to be done.”
A rebirth
While New Orleans is a focal point for Louisiana Baptist church planting, other areas of the state are alive with new church starts.
One of those is Life Point Community Church in Mansura, which is 35 miles south of Alexandria. Located in an area with a poverty rate of 50 percent, high school dropout rate of 50 percent and a state leader in suicide and domestic abuse, churches like Life Point are trying to shine the light of Jesus in what can be a dark place at times.
Started in 2007, Life Point began with a purpose of reaching out to those who were spiritually sick and hurting and leading them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, Pastor Jacob Crawford said.
“We felt that God had brought us to Avoyelles Parish to share the love of Christ with those who were forgotten and living in the shadows of society,” Crawford said. “We began to go into the most impoverished areas and in order to build relational bridges we began passing out all kinds of things – from gumbo, cabbages, sweet potatoes, pots and pans, to candy. God used all of those things to bring many people to know Jesus.”
Life Point’s vision is to be multiracial, reach multitudes with the gospel, be missional and be multi-campus. The church’s main location is in Mansura with additional campuses in Marksville and Cottonport.
The church has used backyard Bible clubs, trunk or treats, block parties, bus transportation ministry, Easter egg hunts and back to school supply outreaches to reach its community. To date, around 150 have been baptized and, with the help of the Georgia Barnette Offering, the church has built a new worship facility which seats 240.
Currently, membership is 250, with a makeup of 55 percent white, 40 percent African-American and 5 percent of various other ethnicities.
“The GBO has helped us in so many ways – from funding for our new building to funding for our ministry centers,” Crawford said. “With the help of Louisiana Baptists, the gospel message is being proclaimed throughout Avoyelles Parish.”
Georgia Barnette importance
Jenkins said that without funding from the Georgia Barnette Offering for State Missions, the effort to plant new works could come to a grinding halt.
In 2013, a record amount of $1,983,000 was given to the Georgia Barnette Offering. Louisiana Baptist leaders are hopeful another record will be broken again this year. The offering goal is $1,945,000, compared to a goal of $1,850,000 in 2013.
The week of prayer for the offering that supports Louisiana Baptist causes such church planting is September 14-21. Information concerning Louisiana Baptist ministries supported by the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering is available at georgiabarnette.org.
Jenkins believes monetary gifts given through the offering will greatly impact the ability to assist church planting efforts in the state.
“You may ask how you can your church can be involved in church planting?” Jenkins said. “Beyond prayer and Cooperative Program giving, give to the Georgia Barnette Offering. Church planting is still the most effective evangelistic method that we have for spreading the gospel and making disciples.”
Interactive map tool
As the Louisiana Baptists look to plant more churches, one tool to aid in this process is an Engage Map. The map allows users to view every single existing Louisiana Baptist church along with demographic information in that area. It also helps associations target areas in need of new churches.
“If you are a pastor who wants to connect with a Louisiana church plant, you can use the map to scroll across an area for churches that may need a partner,” Corley said. “It’s an easy way to connect with church plants on the map.
“For a church that wants to get involved in church planting from the ground up, they could log into map to see where greatest needs are with pinpointed churches,” Corley said. “And for potential church planters to discern their calling with God, they could collect data for potential places to plant.”
Eventual plans for the map call for adding the location of disaster relief equipment in real time and where one can find a compassion ministry in the state.
To view the map, go to engagemap.org/lbc.