Zion Hill Baptist Church
Winn Baptist Association
WINNFIELD – God is doing things at Zion Hill, according to Pastor Bill Wagoner.
“We had three baptisms and one moved their letter last week,” Wagoner said. “We average 50 to 70” people each Sunday. Approximately 15 of these people are children.
Plus, this congregation is a giving church. He said they put together 47 Christmas Shoe Box gifts for Samaritan’s Purse this year.
Besides giving to children overseas, Zion Hill was to perform a Christmas program on Dec. 21 for anyone who would like to attend.
“We’ll have special music,” Wagoner said.
Wagoner hopes that many will sense God’s presence during the service. He himself has sensed God’s love and presence while pastoring at Zion Hill, he said. In fact, he’s been pastor twice for the church.
“First, I pastored there 8 and a half years, from 1980 to 1988,” Wagoner said.
He moved onto another church, but the Zion Hill congregation wanted him back. He became the church’s full-time pastor once again in 2005 to the present. Wagoner said he doesn’t really know why God moved him away and then brought him back, but everyone seems pleased.
The members say they are pleased with Wagoner and excited about what’s happening in the church.
“It’s coming around real good right now,” the pastor added.
Cypress Creek Baptist Church
Beauregard Baptist Association
DERIDDER – The Cypress Creek congregation is gearing up to celebrate Christmas in a special yet quiet way.
“Next Sunday [Dec. 14] we’ll have a church-wide fellowship dinner,” Pastor Roy Lee Johnson said the first week of the month. “The following Sunday the [members] will give out bags of fruit to the children.”
Johnson said his congregation is small but loving.
“We had 20 Sunday. We go up to 30 sometimes,” Johnson said. “We enjoy being there.”
The church has a Bible Study on Wednesday evenings. Johnson said he knows they study the Word, but couldn’t say exactly what the members are studying presently because he and his family don’t attend on Wednesday nights.
“We’re members of First Baptist,” he said.
His family attends First Baptist DeRidder Wednesday evenings.
Johnson is the interim pastor for Cypress Creek, but the congregation loves him.
“I’ve been interim for about six years [now,]” he said.
Though they haven’t had any conversions this year, the people continue to stay faithful, waiting on God, doing what He calls them to do, the pastor said.
“We just have a good time,” he added.
Celebration Church
Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans
METAIRIE – Celebration Church, where Dennis Watson is pastor, in August completed its rebuild contract with its contractor, and heard from its bank that the bank was ready to work with Celebration in extending a construction loan.
In September, the congregation voted to sell the church’s Transcontinental Worship facility to the Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in order to raise monies needed for the rebuild, and the Good Shepherd Church voted to purchase the facility.
“We were ready to begin the much-needed Airline Campus rebuild, expecting the monies received from the sale of our Transcontinental Worship facility to pay off our construction loan,” Watson wrote in a recent email to the congregation and interested others.
“However, we have been unable to secure the construction loan because of the financial/banking crisis in our nation and world, which has kept our bank from securing the participating lenders needed to help us begin our rebuild,” Watson continued.
At a meeting in early December with the bank president and other key bank leaders, some progress was made, the pastor said. Celebration at this time hopes to begin rebuilding in January the Airline campus, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“Keep praying, because once our Airline Campus is completed,” Watson wrote, “I am confident we will see a significant upsurge in our worship attendance and church membership that will enable us to have a greater impact for the kingdom of God in the coming days on our city and culture.”
Westside Baptist Church
Ouachita Baptist Association
FERRIDAY – The Westside congregation is keeping things simple this Christmas, according to Pastor Randy Coleman’s wife Patricia.
“We’re having a Cajun Christmas Saturday night,” she said.
Most of the people who attend church will attend. They bring their own Cajun dish and everyone shares.
“We have done it the last two or three years,” Coleman added.
She and her husband have been a part of Westside for six years. She said they usually have between 35 and 40 people attend Sunday Morning worship each week.
Though she doesn’t want to admit being partial, Coleman has three favorite members of the Westside congregation, her three grandchildren. She said it is really special to see them grow up in Westside. And the grandkids have no problem with Grandpa being the preacher. One Sunday one of the youngest shouted out, “Papa! [I’m] ready to go home!”
This made the congregation laugh, she said.
Plus, Pastor Coleman has been blessed to share in some of their grandchildren’s deicisions.
“He’s baptized our two oldest grandchildren,” she added proudly.
Eastside Baptist Church
Chappapeela Baptist Association
PONCHATOULA – Pastor Johnny Hernandez said yes his church was going to put on a Christmas program. It is scheduled for this Sunday, Dec. 21, but other than the date, he had no details.
“I know we’re having it,” he said. “But they won’t let me help . . . this old Pastor don’t do too much.”
When Hernandez tries to sing, his congregation tells him to stick to preaching. They say it lovingly of course. Just last Sunday, Dec. 14, the Eastside Church family honored Hernandez’s 28 years of service to the congregation. He explained Eastside started out as a mission back then near a trailer court. It started in a house with just a couple of rooms.
“We had children coming out of the woodwork,” Hernandez said. “We had nothing but children!”
And though he loves the members of his church presently, just a few charter members still attend the church. Most have left and moved away. He misses those early days.
“Now there are very few children in the church,” he said sadly. “I love children.”
Yet, God is still moving. About 50 people usually attend Sunday Morning Services each week. And this year, Hernandez saw two people accept Jesus.
He is 76 years old and said, “I’m just right out of my teenage years.”
Hernandez mentioned Moses just starting out at the age 80. He figures he has plenty of years left to serve Jesus.
Salem Baptist Church
Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association
WALKER – If a person would just count people on Sunday morning at Salem Baptist, he or she would most likely not understand what God has been doing.
“We’re a small congregation,” said Pastor Bobby Duncan. “Generally, we have 20 to 35 people.”
When Duncan arrived at the church two years ago, the number of people who attended Sunday Service could fit in the backseat of a car.
“We started with just three people,” he said. “They were without a pastor for about a year.”
And the growth, the ministry, the moving of the Spirit continues.
“We had one accept Christ, and we’ve had three re-dedications,” Duncan said.
For Christmas the congregation has a couple special events planned. This Friday they are having a hayride for everyone. And this coming Sunday, the children will put on a Christmas play. Duncan wasn’t exactly sure what it would include.
“It depends what kids show up,” he said.
If enough children show up, they will put on a Nativity play with children playing Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise man. If only a few make it to church, Duncan said they would sing a few Christmas hymns.
When asked about the way God has been growing the church, he shared an important truth.
“Sometimes we water the seeds and we don’t get to see the increase,” Duncan said.
Many of the people who attend Salem Baptist now have some sort of tie to it. Maybe they attended the church years ago when they were young. Many of them have parents who attended Salem a long time ago, parents who prayed for them and parents who planted seeds.
Duncan is thankful he gets to reap the harvest that so many sowed years ago. He and his congregation are just there to do what God calls them to do.