By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
MONROE, La. (LBM) – The Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries’ campus is bustling with activity lately, including decisions for Christ, continued construction of a center that will serve the impoverished and times of celebration for its 125th year of ministry.
“Everything the Children’s Home does should be pointing people to the Lord,” LBCHFM President and CEO Perry Hancock told the Baptist Message after the entity’s Feb. 23 board meeting. “We share God’s love and we share God’s love and we share the message of the Gospel. Then we allow the Lord to work in their hearts.
“We do a lot of planting. We do a lot of watering, And we often get to see the harvest,” he continued.
“And so that’s so exciting because that’s the foundation of our ministry. It’s a biblically based ministry where we’re trying to share in word and deed, God’s love and the message of Christ.”
Hancock said the children and mothers who turned to Christ have been baptized by area churches and are discipled by their respective cottage parents.
COMPASSION CENTER
Trustees were reminded that construction of the Compassion Center continues, and that the facility should be operational by August or September.
Approved by LBCHFM trustees during z May 12, 2023, meeting, the 15,000-sq.-ft. facility will be located on the Monroe campus and could impact 25,000 children and their families annually.
According to recently released data by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Monroe is the most impoverished metropolitan area in the nation, with 42 percent of the city’s residents at the poverty level.
Compassion for Kids, a LBCHFM ministry, will operate the Compassion Center. The regional center will provide weekend food backpacks and school supplies for children, a baby store for infants and toddlers and support for foster care families. The center also will provide space for a mission church that could provide Bible studies at the facility and resources for existing compassion ministries and pursue the establishment of new church-based compassion works.
“With the Compassion Center we will meet needs in Monroe, and we will help Baptist compassion ministries throughout north and central Louisiana to expand their outreach efforts,” Hancock said.
125th ANNIVERSARY
Throughout the year, the LBCHFM will hold various celebratory events including a reunion of former residents, June 7-8, and an anniversary recognition the second week of July. Additionally, the Legacy Room on campus will be expanded, providing more space to share artifacts and other information about the Children’s Home story.
The LBCHFM was birthed in 1899, when William Cooksey, pastor of Pine Grove Baptist Church, Bernice, had a vision to start an orphanage. Since then, the entity relocated from Lake Charles to Monroe; expanded its ministry to see thousands of families impacted with the Gospel through foster care and adoption, compassion ministry, job training for women, ministry to homeless women and their children, counseling services; and established a ministerial care residential program.
“This will be a celebration of a legacy of hope because that’s what we’re doing,” Hancock said. “Our mission statement is we provide love, care, and hope in Christ for children and families in need. This is a story of what Louisiana Baptists have been providing for 125 years. The result is lived changed by the power of God’s love.”
OTHER ACTION
In other action, LBCFHM trustees welcomed Matt Coker, the new director of public relations and development. He began serving as associate director of public relations and development on Oct. 1, 2023, and was named director on March 1.
A graduate of Louisiana Tech University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Coker served as student minister with First Baptist Church, Farmerville (2008-2016) and pastor with Paron Baptist Church, Sterlington (2016-2023).
“Matt has faithfully and effectively served Louisiana Baptist churches on staff and as a pastor for many years,” Hancock said. “With that experience and his passion to serve those in need, he will provide excellent leadership for our Public Relations and Development department at LBCH.”
