Category Archives: Louisiana Baptists
2016 Church Planting Update: Approaching Milestones, Answering Objections
Reviewing the first half of 2016 this week in relation to church planting with Louisiana Baptists.
25 Church Plants have started so far!
>> just 5 away from our annual goal of 30.
>> 13 or 52% in New Orleans.
>> 15 or 60% non-Anglo.
>> 14 more in development for this year.
We’re approaching several milestones:
-> 150 plants will put us 1/2 way to our goal of 300 by 2020.
-> also approaching 10,000 new commitments to Christ & 2,000 baptisms through church plants since 2010.
Grateful for the work God is doing through our church plants & our together giving through Cooperative Program & State & National Missions Offerings.
Every now & then, someone comments to me that we are planting too many churches in Louisiana. My answer:
- Church to Population Ratio. South Louisiana is well above national levels of church to population ratio with some communities near 1 church to every 10,000 residents. Our state goal is to get every association to our state average of 1 church to every 2,850 residents. Many north Louisiana communities are well below that. Church planting helps us close this gap.
- Percentage of the population actually attending churches are sinking across our state. This reflects the fact that many churches are in decline &/or churches are not growing as fast as their populations. Church Planting is needed to help close this gap, create more capacity for evangelism, & reach every people group & population segment in our community.
- 3%. Bill Easum has said that denominations & networks must plant 3% of their total population annually just to keep from being in decline. For us as Louisiana Baptists, with 1,600 churches, that would mean having a goal of 48 new churches each year. At that point our goal of 30 is quite conservative & reflects a priority to reach other areas of our nation with much lower levels of evangelical population.
- Saturating Our Communities with the Gospel. Our Southern Baptist strategy & that of other Evangelical partners, has always been a SATURATION strategy. We’re committed to doing ALL we can to get the gospel to EVERY person in our communities. Church plants are evangelistic by nature & by necessity. Existing churches tend to grow less evangelistic over time. We need church plants in every community to stay on the evangelistic edge & saturate every corner of our state with the Gospel.
Check out these resources to help you get started on your church planting journey:
- Does My Community Need a New Church? The Right Questions & Key Indicators
- 10 Biblical & Practical Ways to Get Involved in Church Planting
- Every Church Can Encourage Church Planting and Multiplication
- Every Church Can Be a Church Planting Partner
- Your Church Can Be a Parent to a New Church or Campus
- 5 Things You MUST Do Before Your Plant a Church
Multiply New Orleans
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
- % of the Population attending Worship in an SBC Church: Only 2.1%
- % Evangelical Population: 11%
- Unaffiliated Population (Nones): 432,270
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, 21 new churches have been planted, resulting in 811 new commitments to Christ & 316 baptisms! And we’ve got at least 6 more in development for this year.
- Church Plants have gone from 4 in 2012, to 2 in 2013, 4 in 2014, 7 in 2015, & 8 going on 14 this year!
- Louisiana Baptists have now gone over $1 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. I also thank God for George & Joy Ross. George has given all his energy & influence to enlisting his network across the south to support & sponsor church planting in New Orleans. I don’t know of another person who could have brought the number & type of churches together for this effort as George has. And as those who planted virtually alone, Heather & I have been a bit envious of the resources & fellowship that planters today have across the state, but especially in New Orleans, as Joy & George have pastored & coached the planter families with great care. I’m grateful for New Orleans Baptist Association leadership that have accommodated the Send City strategy & have opened their arms to church planters moving to the city with a vision to reach people. Since I started working for Louisiana Baptists in late 2013, the need to resource & plant churches in New Orleans has been emphasized & commended by leaders across our state. I’m glad that our budget reflects that. This year alone over $600,000 will go toward ministry in New Orleans Baptist Association, including ministry at the Port, compassion ministries across the city, & church health efforts through the Association. Grateful for the generosity of Louisiana Baptist churches & our state Missions Support Committee that have said Amen! to these efforts. I believe we’re well on our way to a church planting movement in New Orleans & Louisiana. Looking forward to the future!
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.
You can meet some of our New Orleans planters along with being equipped & inspired at this year’s Multiply Louisiana Conference to be held at New Orleans Seminary, August 29-30. Info & Register Here.
Here’s a few of the latest New Orleans Baptism Pics from the last year:
Three New Churches on the Map in Louisiana for July
Three new church plants added this month in Louisiana. That brings us to 18 for the year & 142 since 2010.
Pray for these Church Plants & Planters:
>> Connect Church Northshore, in Covington. Planter Matthew C. Smith. Sponsor: New Zion Baptist in Covington. Association: Northshore Baptist Associations. In just a few months, Matt has gathered 20+ & already had one new commitment to Christ!
>> Lakeshore Church, New Orleans. Planter George Ross. Sponsor: Canal Street Mosaic. Association: New Orleans Baptist Association. This will be the 19th replanting project in our current slate of church plants. Replanting of Pontchartrain Baptist, which is in a historic spot just north of where the 17th Street Canal breached & flooded New Orleans in 2005. Brings us to 8 plants in New Orleans this year, topping last years high of 7.
>> Seeds of Faith Baptist Church, Lake Charles. Planter Felix Harris. Sponsor: Emmanuel Baptist, Lake Charles. Association: Carey Association. Felix & his wife lead the Lake Charles Charter Schools. He is a former Florida State Seminole Running Back. Scored his first TD against our LSU Tigers. All is forgiven. Look fwd to how God will use Felix in Lake Charles. This is our 7th African-American plant of 2016. 32nd since 2014.
We’ve got at least SEVEN starting next month! Yea! Need 12 more to reach our goal of 30 for the year.
Thankful for the generosity of Louisiana Baptist churches in giving to the Cooperative Program, Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering, & Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions which allows us to provide some resources for great church planting projects like these. Let me know if you know an area in need or are considering a multiplication project. You can email me at lanecorley@gmail.com or check in on one of our upcoming networking opportunities:
- Summer Church Planting Network Luncheons.
- Multiply Louisiana Conference at New Orleans Seminary, August 29-30.
- Greenhouse: Basic Training for Church Multiplication, Acadia Baptist Center, September 15-16.
Multiply Central Louisiana
Chicot State Park off I-49 in Central Louisiana.
Central Louisiana (CenLA) is a wide area across the middle of Louisiana. For the purpose of this report I’m including six Louisiana Baptist Associations – Central LA, North Rapides, Big Creek (Grant), Acadia, Louisiana (Marksville), & Mt. Olive. This area covers all or part of seven Louisiana parishes – Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Evangeline, Grant, Rapides, & St. Landry.
Most people think of this area as heavily evangelical & a Baptist stronghold, & it is. But the numbers show some changing realities that demonstrate the need for multiplication & church planting as part of the strategy to reach the next generation. Here’s a short report:
- Population: 475,349
- Churches: 184. Church to Population Ratio = 1/2,583.
- Worship Attendance at SBC Churches: 18,283 or 4% of the population
- Small Group Attendance at SBC Churches: 9,963 or 2% of the population
- Evangelical Adherents (via thearda.com): 107,047 or 22% of the population
- Nones or Unclaimed Religious afilliation: 138,616 or 29% of the population
This region is illustrative of evangelical decline across the south. As Chuck Kelly reported earlier this year, “Southern Baptists are closer to losing the South than we are to reaching North America.”
Planters, partners needed.
Multiply Houma/Thibodaux
Bayou Baptist Association covers all or part of Terrebonne, Lafoursche, Assumption, Jefferson, & St. James Parishes. Including the cities of Houma, Thibodaux, Lockport, Grand Isle, Golden Meadow, Cutoff, & more.
- Population: 240,064. One of Louisiana’s 9 Metropolitan areas.
- 1 Southern Baptist church (SBC) for every 7,744 persons. Rest of Louisiana is 1 to 2,895. NAMB’s goal is 1 to 2,000. 51 new churches would be needed to get to 1 to 2,895.
- Only .6% of the population (1,560) attended a Bible Study in a SBC Church in 2015.
- Only 1.3% of the population (3,009) attended worship in a SBC Church in 2015.
- Only 10% of the population is evangelical according to the Association of Religious Data Archives (thearda.com).
- Associational Director of Mission is Joe Arnold. Check out BayouBaptistAssociation.com.
Several great opportunities for planting in this area. North Thibodaux is ripe for a plant with a growing population & Louisiana’s 10th largest university – Nicholls State. Also, a great spot for summer missions experiences or retreats. Check out Lighthouse Resort Ministry in Grand Isle for info. Great need for a Hispanic Church Planter in this area, to reach out to the growing Hispanic population. If you love the outdoors, this is a great place for your family to plant & invest your life. Hit me up for more info – lancorley@gmail.com.
Multiply Baton Rouge
The Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge covers all or part of Ascension, East Baton Rouge (Louisiana’s most populated Parish), West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. James Parishes.
- Population: 640,059
- 1 Southern Baptist church (SBC) for every 6,096 persons. Rest of Louisiana is 1 to 2,895. NAMB’s goal is 1 to 2,000. 131 new churches would be needed to get to 1 to 2,895.
- Only 1.1% of the population (7,049) attended a Bible Study in a SBC Church in 2016.
- Only 1.9% of the population (11,861) attended worship in a SBC Church in 2015.
49% of the population is non-anglo (41% African-American, 3.9% Hispanic, 2.5% Asian) with only 16 non-anglo SBC churches. 1 to 18,154. - 23% of the population is evangelical, showing that Baton Rouge has a healthier evangelical population than the rest of South Louisiana.
- Baptisms are down 25% from a high of 757 in 2006. 558 in 2016.
- Association Executive Director is Dr. Tommy Middleton. Staff: Chuck Lowman, Randy Osborn, Dana Truitt, Jan Terral. Check out BAGBR.org.
Current Church Planters:
Church Planting Story: Progression Church Baton Rouge
[UPDATED OCTOBER 25, 2016]
Great Church Planting story developing in Baton Rouge. Brian Crain and his wife Hannah moved to Baton Rouge in 2013 to start Progression Church. Sending church is His Church in Pineville. Progression is in month 34 and they are on a great track for self-sustainability by the end of year 3, with 140+ in average attendance and average giving around $8,000 per month.
Looking from the outside, I see four things that Progression has done very well that we can all learn from:
1. RECRUIT A GREAT TEAM
Brian’s team moved to Baton Rouge, found jobs, moved into neighborhoods, started building relationships, gave their all together on mission.
2. CONSISTENCY OF ACTION
Ministries have been consistent through some dry seasons. Progression has set a course and stuck with it.
3. LISTEN TO OTHERS
Brian has consistently attended trainings, connected with mentors in the area, and shown humble curiosity about speed bumps, etc.
4. INVEST IN CHURCH PLANTING
They are already co-sponsoring another church plant and talking about the day when they’ll send out from their church.
Great story developing in Baton Rouge! Praying for the Progression team as they continue to reach people.
Keep up with Progression Church on Facebook & Twitter.
Planters & Partners Needed in Baton Rouge:
>> Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge covers Ascension, East Baton Rouge (Louisiana’s most populated Parish), West Baton Rouge, Iberville, & Pointe Coupee Parishes.
>> Population: 640,059
>> 1 SBC church for every 7,202 person. Rest of LA is 1 to 2,895. NAMB’s goal is 1 to 2,000. 131 new churches would be needed to get to 1 to 2,895.
>> Only 1.2% of the population attended a Bible Study in a SBC Church in 2015.
>> Only 2.1% of the population attended worship in a SBC Church in 2015.
>> 49% of the population is non-anglo (41% African-American, 3.9% Hispanic, 2.5% Asian) with only 16 non-anglo SBC churches. 1 to 18,154.
>> Current Planters: Brian Crain with Progression Church, Guillermo Mangieri with Istrouma en Espanol, MacArthur Greensberry with New Beginnings Baptist, Josh Morris with Crosscreek Cowboy Church, Pastor Lama with Louisiana Kachin Fellowship, Ed Scott with New Life Temple, & Miguel Angel Flores-Olivera with Jefferson Baptist Hispanic.
>> Associational Director is Dr. Tommy Middleton. Staff: Chuck Lowman, Randy Osborn, Dana Truitt, Jan Terral. Check out BAGBR.org.
Give Georgia Barnette a Hug For Me!
Each year, Louisiana Baptist churches give over $1.5 million to the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering. 100% of this money goes to fund various missions projects throughout Louisiana. So far in 2016, 37% of last year’s offering has been disbursed & it is fun to watch this offering at work! Here’s some of what it’s doing so far this year:
- Supporting 74 church plants across Louisiana. $132,000 so far!
- Supporting the work of 39 different Compassion Ministries across Louisiana & 3 Seaman Ministry Centers reaching out to International Seafarer’s docking in Louisiana. $21,750 so far!
- Provides funding for the Baptist Mission Builder Program which mobilizes construction volunteers & provides contracting services for the building or renovating of first unit buildings for new churches across Louisiana. $27,800 so far!
- Provides training & networking opportunities for church planters, disaster relief volunteers, & missions leaders across Louisiana, including camps for kids in RA & GA programs & Missions conferences for Elementary through High School. $64,000 so far!
- Provides money for special evangelism projects & block parties across Louisiana.
- Provides money for Prison revivals & outreaches across Louisiana.
- Supporting the work of Collegiate Ministry teams across Louisiana. $85,000 so far!
- Supporting the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Extension at Angola. $30,000 annually.
- Provides money for Literacy training, Multi-housing ministry, Chaplaincy training, Pregnancy Resource centers, & Inner City ministries. $38,000 so far!
Still around $1 million to be dispersed this year for these & other ministries across our state! Grateful for the generosity of Louisiana Baptist churches who contribute to this offering that generates so much incredible ministry in Louisiana.
Last year a church planter that had received support through Georgia Barnette texted me to say thank you & he said, “I’m going to give you a hug next time I see you.” I texted back, “Instead of that, give Georgia Barnette a hug for us both next time the offering rolls around.”
This years goal is $1.8 million. For the sake of the Gospel & ministries across our state, I hope you & your church plan on giving Georgia Barnette a hug this year too!
Church Planting Update
Louisiana Baptist Missions Support Committee met yesterday. The MSC allocates cooperative program & mission offering funds for the work of the Missions & Ministry Team that includes Church Planting, Disaster Relief, Compassion Ministry, & Missions Education. The committee’s actions this week:
- Allocated $398,000 in Church Planting & Compassion Ministry grants to 14 new ministries. $131,000 of the allocation to New Orleans. Including Revival Life in Houma – planter Dexter Gaspard, Immanuel Community Church in New Orleans – planter Matthew DeLaughter, Walker Community Ministries – Planter Joey Beeson, Crossroads Community Church – planter Larry Johnson, Christ Church Abbeville – planter Scott Guillory, Barker’s Corner Mission – planter Derek Kitterlin, The Way Church Livingston – planter Cameron Gober, Faith Church in Franklinton – planter Larry Lucas, Still Water Baptist Church New Orleans – planter Burnell Darnesberry, City of Lights Church – planter NaJee Johnson, Suburban West – Nicos Elzy, Touchstone Community Church – planter Herschel Moore.
- Allocated $125,000 in grants to five new churches acquiring first unit buildings. Including Philadelphia Baptist’s Alexandria campus – planter Clay Fuqua, Genesis Church in Walker – planter Jeff Smith, The Way Church in Livingston – planter Cameron Gober, Stillwater Church in Hammond – planter Lonnie Tucker, Fellowship Church’s South Ascension campus – planter Todd Blount.
Other reports shared at this week’s meetings:
- 13 new churches planted so far in 2016. 6 in New Orleans. 7 Non-Anglo. All 13 in South Louisiana. 20 in development for 2016. 137 new churches planted since 2010.
- 76 baptisms, 336 new commitments to Christ reported Jan-Mar 2016 by church plants in Louisiana.
- Since 2010 – 1,804 baptisms & 9,532 new commitments to Christ. We’re approaching 2,000 baptisms & 10,000 new commitments to Christ this year.
- New Orleans – Since 2012 when Send New Orleans launched – 27 new churches started, 348 baptisms, 1,352 New Commitments to Christ. This month the Mission Support allocated for New Orleans will exceed $1 million since the 2012 launch.
- The President’s 2020 Commission identified the greatest needs for new churches in Louisiana among different people groups (40% of the population of Louisiana is non-anglo, but only 5% of our SBC churches in Louisiana were non-anglo), in South Louisiana (1,200 of our SBC churches in Louisiana are in North where only 1 million of our population is. 400 churches in south Louisiana where 3 million of our population is). Since 2010, 60% of our churches started have been non-anglo & 79% have been in South Louisiana.
- Church Plants receiving Cooperative Funding in Louisiana have increased from 39 in 2010 to 74 in 2016.
Grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Missions Support & Church Planting in the great state of Louisiana. Grateful for the generosity of Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana who contribute to the Cooperative Program, Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering, & Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions that makes the work of this team possible.
“Reproducing Churches Stay Lean and Mean”
Church Planters & Compassion Ministry leaders in the Greater Baton Rouge area are getting a treat this weekend, learning from Tulsa, OK, Church Planter Kujanga Jackson. Kujanga & his wife Kimberly planted New Beginnings Church in North Tulsa. NBC is the incredible story of how God birthed a Multi-Ethnic church near the spot of the largest race riots in US History. And NBC has in 10 years, planted 6 other churches & started a non-profit called TOUCH which reaches into 6 major schools & many low income multi-housing developments. The thing I love about this story is that NBC is in one of the poorest communities in Tulsa, but has found a way to be a self-sustaining AND multiplying church. Utilizing the non-religious non profit TOUCH for fund raising, for ministries, & employment of staff, the church doesn’t have to shoulder the financial load of ministries in a community with high unemployment & low incomes. Self-sustaining, reproducing, impacting the community. That’s what we desire of all our churches. Look forward to having Kujanga back in the future!
A few other big takeaways from our time with Kujanga:
- To be a reproducing church you must stay lean & mean. Each time New Beginnings reaches 120 in attendance, they know they are pregnant & begin preparing to send out.
- For transient, low income communities, link strategy to local schools.
- On Multi-Housing Ministry: What you use to draw’em is what you’ll have to use to keep’em.
- Counter entitlement thinking in communities by making them a part of the process, allowing them to participate in planning & implementing events & ministries in their communities.
- What is a Mature Multi-Housing Ministry? The residents involved in the process of making their community better. The church as a link for resources.
Lane Corley 