By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
DRY PRONG – Lloyd Whitman was nearing his final weeks of a 30-year ministry at First Baptist Church Dry Prong, but refused to “coast along” until he retired.
Instead, Whitman wanted to baptize at least one person during his final two months at the central Louisiana church.
He did that and more, baptizing at least one person each week from the the first Sunday in January until he stepped out of the pulpit Feb. 28.
Whitman said not doing so would have gone against the very mission of Jesus Christ that he has tried to fulfill in his 51 years of ministry.
“To see what God was doing at the end of my ministry was rewarding to me,” Whitman said. “The mission of the church is to win people to Jesus. To see that being fulfilled at Dry Prong gave me a sense of thankfulness and gratitude to God that He was moving in a powerful way.”
The string of baptisms came on the heels of the end of an 18-month search for a new pastor at First Baptist Dry Prong. Whitman said the congregation had prayed during that time that God would lead them to the right man for the job. In the process, the church experienced its own personal revival.
“God was just moving in every area of our church,” he continued. “I believe the key to this was that we began to pray and we began to search our own hearts to seek God’s face for a new pastor. I told our people to search your own life and pray if this is the man to lead us the next years.”
When Whitman came to First Baptist Dry Prong in October 1985, the congregation was averaging 90 in Sunday School and 125 in Sunday morning worship.
During his time as pastor, Lloyd Whitman loved visiting with church members and staff at First Baptist Church in Dry Prong. Whitman retired earlier in the year after pastoring at First Baptist Prong and other churches in central Louisiana for 51 years.
Today, those numbers have grown to 200 and 300, respectively, with Whitman baptizing 400 new Believers during the same timeframe.
For the first three years he was pastor at First Baptist Dry Prong and 17 years prior to that, Whitman was teaching and coaching at the parish school district. He taught physical education and coached track, football and basketball.
He said serving as a bi-vocational pastor in that capacity had its advantages.
“It was rewarding even though it was tough on me,” Whitman said. “When you coach, teach and pastor, you are working really hard each day.
“The reward was that some of the young people I taught and coached later came to know the Lord,” he said. “I’ve told people many times if I was to come back, I would want to do the same thing.”
Reminiscing on his 51-year career as a pastor, which also included pastoring at Bethel Baptist Church in Colfax, Fairfield Baptist Church in rural Grant Parish, Lataignier Baptist Church near Lecompte and Mermentau Baptist Church, Whitman offered several tips for others serving in the ministry.
First, love the people where you are.
“Everybody makes mistakes, everybody sins,” he said. “My philosophy through the years is to find a person where they are and move them to where God wants them to be.”
Also, mentor individuals in your church and teach them to win people to Jesus, he said.
“We as shepherds need to guide them to Jesus,” he said, “and preaching is very, very important. But pastoring people also means getting outside the church walls and reaching out to them, being there with them.”
Finally, Whitman said “don’t discard a person who is living in sin. Find a person where he is and move him to where he needs to be.”
Looking to the future, Whitman said he will stay active in ministry in a number of ways — helping out with Vacation Bible School, preaching at a church for a Sunday and just standing alongside someone who is hurting.
“I just want to minister to people,” he said. “I am willing to preach anywhere, or minister to anyone who is hurting. I just want to go out and touch people’s lives. I want them to know Jesus and touch their lives for Him.”
