By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
LAFAYETTE, La. (LBM) – The University of Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team has high hopes for the upcoming baseball season, but three players celebrated victories Sept. 10, when they were baptized at the Bayou Church.
Surrounded by 50 teammates and athletic department staff, Andrew Herrmann, Carson Flono and Riley Marcotte were baptized by Matt Deggs, UL head baseball coach. Before he baptized each player, Deggs cited a memory verse and gave each player a challenge. They were among 10 new believers baptized during the service and 73 since January.
“There are wins and there are losses,” Deggs said moments before the baptisms. “And then there is victory. Victory in Jesus Christ. It is for freedom that Christ set you free.”
The three players made decisions to follow through with baptism after hearing Deggs share the Gospel in August during a team meeting, and again at Bayou Church with their teammates. In that service, Pastor Sean Walker shared a message about how to replace broken soundtracks with God’s truth through a relationship with Christ.
“Talking with the coach this week, this is what I learned,” Walker said. “He’s not a baseball coach first. He’s a baseball coach second. First, he is a developer of men.”
CHANGED LIFE
Deggs knows first-hand about freedom found in Christ.
In 2011, Deggs was on a hunting trip with then-Texas A&M Baseball Coach Rob Childress. Deggs passed out after drinking too much beer on a deer stand and Childress drove him home. Soon after Childress dropped him off, Deggs became argumentative with his wife, Kathy, and their children.
The next morning, Deggs could not remember where his truck was parked, and a few hours later was dismissed as associate head coach.
Deggs was left without a job and tried to pick up the pieces of his marriage.
To make ends meet, he worked at a feed mill in College Station, Texas, and later as a pharmaceutical salesman.
UL Head Coach Tony Robichaux eventually gave Deggs a second chance in 2012, and that turned out to be a turning point for Deggs. A year later, he stopped drinking alcohol for good; and in 2014 he re-dedicated his life to Christ.
Deggs, who was head coach of Sam Houston State (2015-2019) before returning to UL as head coach in 2020, remains alcohol free, maintains strong relationships with his wife and children and is committed to sharing how Christ has changed his life.
“Mine is a story where faith in action proves that all things are possible,” he said. “The most important thing you can do when you make mistakes is to get back up and respond and take the mess and turn it into a message.
“We are all multiple-chance guys saved by the grace of God,” he continued. “We all battle with things at some point. Just don’t give up. So many of our players, and people in general, deal with a lot of stuff coming at them. There really is one path to freedom. The enemy wants to blind you. You have to be armed with the full armor of God.”
As Deggs and his team prepare for the upcoming season, he asked for prayer.
“Pray that we keep our eyes open,” he said. “And pray that we are healthy and strong and committed to each other, to the brotherhood, and our relationships with Christ.”
GROWTH ON THE BAYOU
The celebration of baptisms on Sept. 10 is among many ways the Holy Spirit’s favor has manifested with the Bayou Church this year, Walker said. The congregation has:
— surpassed last year’s baptism total (71);
— seen Sunday morning worship attendance increase (1,679 compared to 1,378 in 2022); and
— witnessed small group numbers grow since August, averaging 1,858 (including 1,196 adults), up from 1,143 in 2022.
Additionally, the church held a grand opening of a campus expansion, Aug. 6. The new 32,485-sq.-ft. facility includes a 250-seat multi-purpose venue with restrooms and a small kitchen area for hosting weddings, memorial services, and other community events. There also is a lobby, coffee shop (featuring Reve coffee and Caroline’s cookies), covered patio and restrooms, as well as a children’s space/preschool area that will be available at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services for those in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The facility replaces a 45-year-old building that sustained significant roof and infrastructure damage from Hurricane Delta, which cut a swath through the Lafayette area in October 2020. Built in 1979, the former Roller City skating rink had served as a worship and event space since it was purchased by the church in 1986.
“As exciting as growth in numbers and the successful completion of a campus expansion are, we know that success is not measured by size or scope, but in the individual stories of authentic life-change,” Walker said. “The Bayou Church’s mission established nearly four decades ago by our Founding Pastor, Mike Walker, remains the same: Transforming lives in Acadiana through Christ-centered relationships. We will forever remain committed to that purpose.”
