By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
ALEXANDRIA – Church planters, state missions staff and numerous guests gathered in the Louisiana Baptist Building Oct. 5 to commemorate the 150th church planted since 2010.
This milestone achievement marks the half-way point for the goal of planting 300 churches by 2020 as part of one of the 10 action steps identified in the President’s 2020 Commission Final Report, which was affirmed by messengers during the 2013 LBC Annual Meeting.
Planting healthy, biblically sound, multiplying churches is a key component to the seven-year-strategy which seeks to engage two audiences – the next generation and every people group – in reaching Louisiana with the Gospel.
James Jenkins, director of church planting for Louisiana Baptists, said the occasion was a celebration of a partnership between church planters, sponsoring churches and directors of missions.
“We have been ramping up our rate of church planting over the months and we knew if we were here at this point that we would be able to get to 300 by 2020,” said Jenkins. “I’m excited because every increase in this number actually corresponds with reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
David Lee, pastor of Bansuk Korean Baptist Church in Bossier City; Jacob Crawford, pastor of Life Point Church in Mansura; James Riley, pastor of House of Prayer in Baton Rouge; and Cleto Perez, pastor of Nueva Vida Baptist Church in Athens, prepare to cut a cake commemorating the 150th Louisiana Baptist church planted since 2010.
“We are baptizing people,” he continued, “We are discipling people – and we are enlisting their help to go out and start other churches.”
He said two more churches will be planted by month’s end and 40 new works are planned for next year, noting “that will be enough to keep up with the goal set by the 2020 Commission.”
Jenkins said the strategy is to plant churches where most Louisianans live, so there is an emphasis on the I-10 corridor and southward where 3-4 million Louisianans reside. So far, 119 of the new church plants are located in southern Louisiana.
There also is a mix of ethnic identities among the 150 church plants: 58 are predominately Anglo, 49 African-American, 25 Hispanic, eight Asian and 10 have a largely multi-ethnic makeup.
MORE TO CELEBRATE
Louisiana Baptists Executive Director David Hankins was pleased about reaching the mid-term goal for the number of churches planted, but he was ecstatic about the evangelistic fervor demonstrated by these congregations.
“Our church planters, sponsoring churches, Directors of Missions and state Missions and Ministries team all deserve kudos for the prayer and hard work it took to reach this milestone,” he said. “Of all the statistics reported, the most significant for me is the 2,500 plus baptisms generated by these new churches.
“We need to rejoice with the angels regarding these new believers,” Hankins said. “Now, it’s on to the final goal of 300 new churches by 2020. Please join us in praying and working toward this end.”
Louisiana Baptists Executive Director David Hankins expresses his excitement about the 150th church planted since 2010.
A RECORD PACE
The 34 Louisiana Baptist churches on pace to be planted this year are more than four times in number the eight churches planted in 2010.
Lane Corley, one of Louisiana Baptists church planting strategists, attributes the growth to maximum buy-in from associational leaders and more churches getting a heart for multiplication, adding that 21 associations have played a role in the 2020 church planting effort through 2016.
“Churches are realizing that they can’t do it alone,” he said. “We need more churches to saturate our communities with the Gospel across Louisiana.”
Cedric Murphy is in the midst of starting his third congregation, Body of Christ Church in Baker – born not long before the record rains came in August.
Before the flood, Murphy said the surrounding community was difficult to reach, but afterward, they were more receptive – thanks to the church’s disaster relief distribution ministry.
He said this compassion ministry allowed them to be a relevant church in Baker and other nearby areas.
“The exciting thing is I saw God move through a disaster to allow me to minister to people and now all of a sudden my church has grown from inside and also from the outside because there are a lot of other people that have been coming as a result,” said Murphy, who attended the church planting celebration. “I’ve found what God called me to be. It gives me an opportunity to meet a lot of new people, to spread the Gospel to a lot of new groups and I’m just glad to be a Louisiana Baptist church planter.”
A crowd gathers inside the Baptist Building to celebrate the 150th church planted since 2010. The achievement marks the half-way point for the goal of 300 churches planted by 2020.
