New Orleans is extremely important to Louisiana & our efforts to reach & resource churches there should be of highest priority.

• 21% of the Population of Louisiana live in the New Orleans Baptist Association’s five parishes. (991,000 is the latest estimate)
• Includes Louisiana’s second largest & most diverse Parish – Jefferson
• Louisiana’s largest metro area, with over 1.2 Million living in the Governments statistical area.
• One of the United States’ most influential ports & tourism industries.
• And an often quoted fact: the North American Mission Board’s original charter mentions the necessity of reaching New Orleans.

How are we doing at reaching the Big Easy?

• Church to Population Ratio: 1/7,929. Our state goal is to see every association at 1/2,850.
• % of the Population attending Worship in an SBC Church: Only 2.1%. (Hard to estimate as only about 60% of the church fill out an ACP – Annual Church Profile)
• % Evangelical Population: 11% (according to thearda.com).
• Unaffiliated Population (Nones): 432,270 (according to thearda.com)

The churches of New Orleans have endured much & are a strong lot that do great work reaching its population. And the story God has began writing through church planting over the last few years, in my opinion, is historic & amazing.

• In 2012, New Orleans became a Send City in the North American Mission Board’s Send City Strategy & George Ross became the Send City Coordinator.
• In May 2013, we held the first Send City Strategy meeting at Celebration Church to coordinate strategy & try to open a door for church planting to make a difference in the area.
• Since that time, 43 new churches have been planted. 57 since 2010 when our current state strategy began. 
• Louisiana Baptists have now gone over $2 million of cooperative funding invested in New Orleans for Church Planting since the beginning of Send New Orleans in 2012. Not including NAMB or Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering grants for startup & building renovation cost.
• A wide door of opportunity has indeed opened for the next generation of churches to be planted in New Orleans.

New Orleans is a tough place to minister & we have some incredible young families laboring to plant literally in some of Louisiana’s toughest neighborhoods. I’m inspired by their courage & hard work & pray for them by name on a weekly basis.

Follow much of what is happening in church planting in New Orleans on the Send New Orleans Facebook page. And you can get info on our planters in New Orleans by checking out the Planter profiles at NAMB.net.