Submitted by philip on
By Brian Blackwell, Marketing Director
STATEWIDE – The line for Chick-fil-A stretched nearly 50-people deep inside the Alexandria Mall food court shortly after noon on Aug. 1 but Nick Hodges didn’t mind.
Hodges, who made the one-hour drive from Oakdale to purchase a chicken sandwich and soft drink, waited 30 minutes in line for one reason: to support the Atlanta-based chicken chain on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.
“Far too long Christians have stood on the sidelines while our Christian liberties have been attacked,” said Hodges, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist in Oakdale. “It was important to me to support Chick-fil-A as they face criticism for their Christian values. It is encouraging to see the support that Chick-fil-A is receiving from the Christian community today.”
Hodges joined hundreds of thousands of people who packed the chain’s 1,600 restaurants for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, which was organized by former Arkansas Baptist Convention President and Arkansas governor-turned talk show host Mike Huckabee.
More than 640,000 signed up on Facebook by the end of the day to voice their support for the company, which was criticized by politicians and activists after Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy voiced his support for traditional marriage in an article first published by the North Carolina Biblical Recorder news journal.
Steve Robinson, executive vice president of marketing for Chick-fil-A Inc., said in a statement on the company’s website that “while we don’t release exact sales numbers, it was an unprecedented day.”
Many locations surpassed their all-time one-day sales records, with some Chick-fil-As in Louisiana and throughout the United States closing early because they ran out of food and supplies.
Louisiana Baptists were among those who turned out in support of the company. Some waited as much as an hour inside the restaurant or drive-through lanes that in some cases stretched around the building and out onto busy streets.
A few Louisiana Baptist churches and entities even ordered Chick-fil-A products for their staff lunch or Wednesday night meal.
Among those was Bedico Baptist Church in Ponchatoula, which ordered 275 sandwiches for its evening meal on Aug. 1. Pastor Mark Tolbert said the turnout was higher than expected and surpassed the average Wednesday evening meal attendance Bedico Baptist normally registers.
“We wanted to make a positive statement of appreciation for a business that has long been out front about being built on biblical principles,” Tolbert said. “It was a great event for us.”
For its part, First Baptist Church of Lafayette ordered 150 sandwiches to serve its Wednesday evening meal crowd. Pastor Steve Horn said he was unsure if the Lafayette Chick-fil-As would have enough food that late in the day to accommodate his congregation, so he decided not to announce they were serving Chick-fil-A for their meal.
“I figured a lot of our folks would want to participate and lines would be long, so this would be easier than actually going inside a Chick-fil-A,” Horn said.
Other churches who ordered Chick-fil-A meals that day included Faith Baptist Church in New Orleans, Calvary Baptist Church in Shreveport and First Baptist Church in Minden.
Earlier in the day the Louisiana Baptist Convention building staff and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary administration each ordered chicken biscuits. About 40 Louisiana Baptist Convention staff enjoyed the biscuits after their weekly prayer meeting while 200 faculty, staff and students at NOBTS ate chicken biscuits.
David Hankins, executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, said he believed supporting the company’s commitment to biblical marriage was vital.
“We believe the attacks on the company due to their leaders’ commitment to biblical marriage ought to be countered by a strong show of support from the Christian community,” Hankins said. “It is not just that we wholeheartedly endorse the Bill of Rights, which gives every American the right to express his convictions, but, more particularly, we appreciate the Cathy family’s commitment to Christ and agree with their stance for traditional marriage.”
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley echoed Hankins’ thought, noting that the company has donated food for seminary events. Also, after Hurricane Katrina caused seminary faculty and staff to temporarily meet in Duluth, Ga., Chick-fil-A provided breakfast for them there.
“The Cathys have done a marvelous job of seeking to keep their faith, their personal lives and their business practices in alignment,” Kelley said in a Baptist Press article. “Along the way they have been generous and consistent givers to more people and causes than any of us will ever know. They were extremely kind to the NOBTS family in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We stand proudly with them as they stand for marriage as God intended it to be.”