By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
RAYVILLE – Eddie Wren will be nominated for the office of president of the Louisiana Baptist Convention during the 2017 LBC Annual Meeting.
Steve Horn, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lafayette, plans to nominate Wren for the position.
Wren, who serves as pastor of First Baptist Church in Rayville, is the only announced candidate for the office.
Horn said he has known Wren since their time as students at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and added that his respect for Wren as a husband, father, pastor and friend has grown strongly through the years.
“I am pleased to nominate Dr. Wren because I believe he cares about the issues that most Louisiana Baptists care most about,” Horn said in a written statement to the Baptist Message. “He is committed to a strong belief in the inerrancy, infallibility, and inspiration of the Bible which reveals itself in his preaching. He is passionate about the evangelism of all people—those in Rayville, the state of Louisiana, the United States, and the nations. He believes all ought to hear and all can be saved.
“He is committed to our cooperative work as Louisiana Baptists and Southern Baptists,” Horn continued. “The evidence of that commitment is his involvement in the work at every level of Southern Baptist life – the local church, the local association, the state convention, and our Southern Baptist Convention.
In addition, he is a strong advocate of the Cooperative Program, having recently led his church to take part in The Pledge, an initiative to increase Cooperative Program giving.”
Wren said if elected he will continue his passion of soul-winning by helping continue the emphasis on the Harvest, Louisiana Baptists’ campaign to “pray for every home and share Christ with every person” in the state.
“I’m certainly honored that Steve would nominate me,” Wren said. “After praying about it, I sensed the Lord’s leadership in it. We’ve had good men leading as LBC president since I’ve been here, so it would be an honor to follow them.
“Our greatest need is to get back to sharing the Gospel of Jesus and I’m excited Louisiana Baptists have decided to do that through the Harvest,” he continued. “That’s what we’re called to do – take the Gospel and make disciples. If our churches and our leaders would focus on sharing the Gospel it would cure a lot of ills within the church.”
Since Wren became pastor of First Baptist Rayville in October 2010, average Sunday school attendance has increased from 237 to 333, according to Annual Church Profile statistics. The church averages 400 in worship attendance each Sunday (an increase of 100 during his tenure) and from 2011 to 2016, the church baptized 152 people.
First Baptist Rayville gives 10 percent through the Cooperative Program to support cooperative missions, ministries and theological education in Louisiana, North America and throughout the world. Their efforts to share the Gospel include local outreach by the church’s students, mission trips to Honduras and Nicaragua, a monthly worship service at a nursing home in Rayville and hosting Celebrate Recovery every Thursday.
A native of Tupelo, Miss., Wren earned Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
Before accepting a call to First Baptist, Rayville on Sept. 26, 2010, Wren served as pastor of Green Valley Baptist in Pontotoc, Miss., Bissell Baptist in Tupelo, and First Baptist Butler, Ga.
Wren and his wife, Stacy, have four children, Sam, Meri Hobbs, Eli and Noah.
