Category Archives: Louisiana Baptists
Missions and Ministry Team Report
In 2015, the Louisiana Baptist Missions and Ministries Team (Church Planting, Compassion Ministries, Disaster Relief & Men’s Ministry, Women’s Mission & Ministry) conducted 53 Conferences & Events with a total attendance of 8,545 people. The total money spent on conferences and events was $108,727 for an average cost per attendee of $12.72.
Grateful to be part of this team.
Church Planting Update
>> With 88% of reports in, 121 new commitments to Christ, 24 baptisms reported by Louisiana Church Plants in January.
>> We added 2 new churches last month, bringing us to 9 for 2016. At least 3 more starting in April! Great start! Pray for Passion Church in Jennings, Planter Ryan Temple & Faith Church in Franklinton, Planter Larry Lucas.
Keep up with Church Planting among Louisiana Baptist by joining our Facebook Group.
Pic of recent small group gathering with January start, Christ Church Abbeville, planter Scott Guillory.
The Impact of OFF-CAMPUS Church Multiplication
A multiplication mindset is essential to church & kingdom growth. Our churches grow through on-campus multiplication of leaders, groups, & ministries. The kingdom grows through off-campus multiplication of ministries, churches, & campuses. Most of us pastors & churches tend to operate by addition thinking or by “protect against subtraction” thinking most of the time. Multiplication is more audacious, risky, & forces our minds to think big. And if tried, it tends to help us add people & protect against subtraction. Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird in their great book Viral Churches point out a study by Jeffrey Farmer of 309 churches that sponsored a new church(es) that showed that worship attendance increased 22% and giving increased 48% for the five years after sponsorship of a church plant.
Out of curiosity, I did a little research on Louisiana churches that have made the biggest commitment to OFF-CAMPUS multiplication since 2010, either through financially supporting a church plant in a big way, sending leaders to help start a new church, or launching an additional campus. There were 24 very obvious choices. Further research on sponsor churches in Louisiana will be ongoing. These 24 churches range from 120 to 4,000 in attendance, with annual receipts from $90,000 to $5 million annually. Here’s what we found:
>> 92% (22/24) increased in attendance WHILE sponsoring a new church.
>> 83% (20/24) increased baptisms WHILE sponsoring a new church.
>> 88% (21/24) increased undesignated receipts WHILE sponsoring a new church.
Five of these churches had MORE THAN DOUBLED while aggressively focusing outward on church multiplication. As a matter of fact, the smaller the church, the more dramatic impact that multiplication had on their numbers.
There were 9 churches that had started & carried additional Multi-site campuses since 2010. Out of those 9:
>> 9/9 reported increase in attendance within 3 years.
>> 8/9 reported increase in baptisms within 3 years.
>> 8/9 reported increase in undesignated receipts within 3 years.
Now, there are so many factors that play into a baptist churches growth, including pastoral transitions, economic factors in the community, etc. But interesting to see that most of the time, when churches give away themselves, they tend to grow.
A Multiplication Mindset is our solution for growing the Kingdom, revitalizing churches, reaching the world. I’m passionate about church planting, but I can say the greatest need is not more new churches, but more mother churches. Bob Roberts, in his book The Multiplying Church said it like this,
“The future of faith in America (and anywhere in the world, for that matter) is not tied to planting more churches, but in raising up of mother congregations of every tribe, tongue, denomination, and network that are reproducing like rabbits.”
And for some, turning to multiplication will be the key to turning around & revitalizing. Ralph Moore in his great book How To Multiply Your Church says,
“I believe a stalled congregation can nearly always grow its way back to momentum by preparing for and launching a new church. The process is invigorating.”
How can you begin to think MULTIPLICATION instead of ADDITION? Sponsoring a new church, mentoring a potential leader, looking at potential ministry to a population segment that is underserved in your area.
And if we are going to reach our world for Christ, we can’t just add, we must multiply. In my area, we found that only 3.3% attend worship at a SBC Church on any given weekend, & only 7% attend an evangelical church of any kind. If we wanted to double these figures to 6.6%, tracking with population growth over the next 10 years, we would have to add over 16,000 worshippers! Sounds daunting, but the potential for lives & communities changed makes it worth the effort! Let’s get to multiplying!
Check out these resources to help you get started on your church multiplication journey:
“In every apple there is an orchard” #churchplanting
Got another Basic Training event, now called Greenhouse in this week on the I-12 corridor in Walker. Seventeen church planting & revitalization projects represented from across South Louisiana. Excited about the potential for each of these works. We had to rush through the last few hours due to pending dangerous weather arriving, but it was indeed a great couple of days of collaboration.
Our next Greenhouse Training event will be April 7-8 in Grand Isle. All of our trainings are free, but you’ll probably need a fishing license for this one :). Register & info HERE. Contact me – lane.corley@louisianabaptists.org – about bringing this training to your church or your region.
Great Weekend for Missions Conferences!
Lots of good networking, collaborating, learning, & challenging going on this weekend across Louisiana around Missions & Evangelism:
>> Collegiate Evangelism Conference
at Calvary in Alexandria. Pray for Michael Wood, Pastor of First Baptist West Monroe & others who will challenge 500+ college students about evangelism & devotion Near & Far. Thanks to Mark Robinson & all our awesome Louisiana BCM Directors who pull off this great event each year. I’ll be facilitating a breakout called Discover Church Planting on Saturday.
>> Crescent City Conference
on engaging Muslims through Church Planting & Evangelism in North America at Iglesia Bautista Horeb in Gretna. Pray for speakers Dr. Mike Edens & Dr. Page Brooks from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary & Dr. Aslam Masih from the North American Mission Board. Thanks Ryan Melson, David Rodriguez & others for organizing.
>> Voyage Youth Missions Conference
at Tall Timbers. Pray for John King, Missions Pastor at Temple Baptist in Ruston & others who will challenge 150+ teenagers about missions. And they’ll all be on mission in Alexandria/Pineville on Saturday. Thanks to Jess Archer & Janie Wise for their work with Voyage & M-Jam.
Somebody should definitely come out of this weekend with a desire to plant a church! Praying…
From 15 to 175! Another Successful Revitalization
Another huge turn around on a property gifted to a healthy church from a church struggling to stay alive. Fellowship Church on Airline, planter/pastor Todd Blount, was gifted Immanuel Baptist Church on Airline Dr. in Gonzalez. Immanuel last reported 15 in worship. Fellowship has had between 130 & 175 since moving onto the property. Fellowship plans to construct a new building on the property later this year with the help of the Mission Builder Program (https://louisianabaptists.org/missionbuilder).
This makes at least NINE huge turn arounds in Louisiana through church mergers or gifting of properties in the last few years. At least three more in the works this year.
- Is your church struggling to maintain healthy systems? Would merging or gifting your property be a good option for your community?
- Is your church ready to multiply? Are you in a place where you could merge or take on an additional campus?
A few resources to help with these conversations:
2016 Church Planting Scoreboard
Yea, I love whiteboards… First scoreboard update for Louisiana Baptists Church Planting in 2016.
A few Observations:
- 73% of church starts since 2014 have been in south Louisiana, where 70% of Louisiana’s population & 35% of Southern Baptist churches are.
- 2/3 of church plants have been non-Anglo, so hopefully we’re making progress toward our “every people group” objectives from the President’s 2020 Commission a few years ago.
- This year, we should eclipse 10,000 new commitments to Christ since 2010 in our church plants years 1-3.
- Salvations & baptisms were down last year which may reflect more churches in first year cultivation stage or more in south Louisiana’s harder to reach areas.
- Currently 78 projects receiving Cooperative Program funding across Louisiana.
- Grateful for planters, partners, generous churches, & the prospect of 1,000+ new people coming into the kingdom this year through our efforts to plant new churches.
Check out these resources to help you get started on your church planting journey:
- 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
Connect with other church planters in Louisiana by joining our Facebook Group – Louisiana Church Multiplication Network.
Top 6 Places to Plant a Church in Louisiana
I like to call south Louisiana the back pocket of the Bible Belt. Still many cities & communities in need of new churches in one of North America’s most unique cultures. Here’s the top places to plant a church in Louisiana:
(I use data on SBC, southern baptist churches, because that attendance data is readily available to me as a SBC strategist. Data on evangelicals comes from the.arda.com).
1. New Orleans
Population: 956,000. Only 2.1% attend a SBC Church. Only 11% Evangelical. 432,270 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the Parishes of Orleans, Jefferson (Louisiana’s 2nd largest Parish), St. Bernard, Plaquemine, & St. Charles. New Orleans is strategic for a lot of reasons: one of North America’s most influential ports, a cultural icon for the world. For Louisiana, it makes up 20% of our population. For Southern Baptists, its one of only three Send Cities in the South.
Contacts: The New Orleans Baptist Associaton, DOM Jack Hunter. George Ross, North American Mission Board Send City Coordinator for New Orleans.
2. Acadiana
Population: 675,000. Only 1.8% attend a SBC church. Evangelical population only 9%. 229,049 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Lafayette, Youngsville (one of Louisiana’s fastest growing), Abbeville, Carencro, Opelousas, Breaux Bridge. This is true Louisiana. Cajun Country. The images most shared about Louisiana come from these areas. Amazing food. Gators. Live Oaks. It’s also home to Louisiana’s second largest University, University of Louisiana – Lafayette.
Contacts: The Evangeline Baptist Association, DOM Bert Langley.
3. Baton Rouge
Population: 630,000. Only 2.0% attend a SBC Church. 23% evangelical. 242,000 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Baton Rouge, Prairieville, Gonzalez, Port Allen, Plaquemine & others. Louisiana’s state capital & the center of political life & becoming more influential in the Business life of the entire I-10 corridor. Growing refugee populations have been noted & this year will begin receiving Syrian refugees. Also, home to one of America’s most influential universities, Louisiana State University.
Contacts: The Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, DOM Tommy Middleton.
4. Bayou
Population: 208,000. Only 1.8% attend a SBC Church. Only 6% Evangelical. 70,672 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Houma, Thibodaux, Grand Isle, Galliano, Cutoff, & others. One of the best places for fresh shrimp & salt water fishing in North America! Beautiful people & incredible culture. Also, very influential because of the thousands that work out of these communities in the drilling & oil production industry across the Gulf of Mexico. Home to Nicholls State University.
Contacts: The Bayou Baptist Association, DOM Joe Arnold.
5. I-12 Corridor
Population: 541,234. Only 4.8% attend a SBC Church. 25% Evangelical. 270,687 unaffiliated with any church.
Includes the cities of Denham Springs, Walker, Hammond, Ponchatoula, Covington, Mandeville, Slidell & others. Fast growing for years due to suburban life. Now robust corporate life developing. Home to Louisiana’s third largest University – South Eastern Louisiana State University in Hammond.
Contacts: Eastern Louisiana Baptist Association, DOM David Brown. And Northshore Baptist Association, DOM Lonnie Wascom.
6. Lake Charles
Population: 235,000. Only 3.7% attend a SBC Church.
Aw man! If I were 28 again & ready to start a church, I’d plant myself here! Includes the cities of Lake Charles, Sulphur, & Jennings. May be one of the fastest growing areas in the south right now with 17% growth over the last 18 months. Expected to add 40,000 jobs over the next decade. Home to McNeese State University.
Contacts: Carey Baptist Association, DOM Bruce Baker.
Planters & partners needed. Message me for info about these and other communities that need new churches in Louisiana if God may be leading you to the Bayou.
Find other info on Church Planting in Louisiana at https://louisianabaptists.org/churchplanting.
And connect with other church planters in Louisiana by joining our Facebook Group – Louisiana Church Multiplication Network.
Things Pastors of Evangelistic Churches Say
This week, I had the opportunity to facilitate a Breakout at the Louisiana Baptists Evangelism Conference with three men that lead churches with great Evangelistic culture in Louisiana. Jacob Crawford – Life Point Mansura, Willis Easley – Christ’s Community Denham Springs, & Checkerz Williams – Celebration LaPlace. (See my previous post for a bit of bio on them & their churches). These churches are responsible for 100’s of baptisms each year. We threw out several questions designed to just get them talking, so that we could glean insights & be inspired. These men had never met each other before this conference, but it was interesting to hear how many of the same things came out of their mouths related to creating an evangelistic culture. Here’s some things they said over & over that have stuck with me:
“It’s about casting vision.”
Checkerz Williams said he uses the statement “Can you imagine what our community would be like if…?” to get people to see the possibilities.
“We teach people, ‘It’s not about you.'”
Willis Easley said at least monthly they tell people to turn to the person next to you & say “It’s not about you.” And interestingly enough the other two churches do the same thing!
“Our church looks like our community.”
Life Point is 60% white, 40% African-American, which matches the demographics of the community it is in. Celebration LaPlace is 55% African-American, 35% white, 10% Hispanic, which matches the demographics of the community it is in. Each of these churches are diverse, multi-ethnic churches. A lot of people talk about diversity & multi-ethnic ministry, but what I’m learning is that diversity & multi-ethnic church development is a product of an evangelistic culture.
“We share the Gospel at every gathering.”
Each church makes the gospel an important part of every service. Jacob Crawford said, “Never assume that everyone believes. Assume the opposite & share the gospel.” And these leaders go out of the way to share the gospel in ways that are reproducible & easily picked up by others. Willis Easley says, He uses the Roman Road EVERY time he shares the gospel from the Pulpit, because it’s easily picked up by others.
“We love people to Christ.”
Service & outreach to the community is of course a major part of the ministries of each of these churches. Christ’s Community & Celebration Church both sponsor a big day of service at least annually, where everyone takes on outreach & evangelism projects together.
“We started an additional service to reach more people.”
Each of these churches have started multiple services to add capacity for reaching new people for Christ.
“We encourage people to pray for friends that are not believers.”
Each of these churches have a system in place for people to identify people in their relational network who are without Christ & pray for them. For Celebration it’s the FRAN list – Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors. For Christ’s Church it’s called the High 5’s.
“We network with community leaders.”
Being involved in the community is important to each of these churches. “Building bridges not barriers” – Checkerz Williams.
“We baptize people that become believers quickly.”
Baptisms are down across the Southern Baptist Convention, so I was very curious as to what the process these churches have for baptism. Each said they baptize people very soon after they make a decision. Checkerz Williams says their baptistry at Celebration LaPlace is ALWAYS full & ready. Ushers at Life Point show up early & ask every Sunday, “How many do we have today?” in reference to baptisms. Their is an attitude of expectancy in these churches that people will be getting saved, so lets get ready to baptize them.
“We equip & train members of the church to do the work of evangelism.”
It was clear that for these men, their role is to equip the people & groups to do evangelism. So, from modeling, to training, to keying on reproducible processes, the desire is for the entire church to own evangelism of the lost community.
Great conversation. What do you need to add to your vocabulary this year related to your church’s culture? These sayings will be a great start.
Here’s a few other great quotes from our session:
- Willis Easley – “When I saw that we had only baptized 5 or 6 in a year, I got alone with God, & said, ‘Lord, we’re not doing what you called us to do.'”
- Jacob Crawford – “We cast a vision for community transformation. Avoyelles Parish’s suicide rate is similar to North Korea. We teach people that only Jesus can fix this.”
- Checkerz Williams – “Our Baptistry stays full. We talk about it every Sunday. Once per year we do a Baptism emphasis. You’ve got to keep it in front of people.”
- Willis Easley – “If you’re not sharing the gospel with lost people, you won’t be baptizing many people.”
- Willis Easley – “Southern Baptist have been trying to harvest in fields in which we haven’t sown.”
- Jacob Crawford – “The biggest obstacle to evangelism in our church was ME, the Pastor. I had to get out of the way & equip the members to do the work of the ministry.”
Left to Right: Jacob Crawford, Checkerz Williams, Willis Easley.
Creating an Evangelistic Culture in Your Church
Looking forward to ECon – the Louisiana Baptists Annual Evangelism Conference on Monday & Tuesday, January 25-26 at FBC Lafayette. Featured speakers will be Josh McDowell, Steve Gaines, Alvin Reid & others. (Live Stream located here). I’m very excited to be facilitating a breakout on Tuesday afternoon called Creating an Evangelistic Culture in Your Church. This will be a forum featuring pastors from three of the fastest growing, most evangelistic churches in Louisiana in 2015. If you’re curious about what growing churches in Louisiana are doing, find this breakout!
Jacob Crawford from Life Point Church, Mansura. Life Point had an incredible year, baptizing 105 & starting four new churches! And they did this in one of the most impoverished, hardest to reach areas of Louisiana.
Willis Easley from Christ’s Community Church in Denham Springs. CCC was recently featured in Outreach Magazine. They baptized 135 last year & have done an incredible job designing ministry for the unchurched community. Located just south of a major new on ramp to I-12 at Juban Rd. in Livingston Parish.
Checkerz Williams from Celebration LaPlace. Celebration Church leads Louisiana in baptisms almost every year. They’ve multiplied to six campuses & expecting to add more in the near future. Checkerz leads the River Parishes campuses which has grown exponentially over the last few years in a traditionally hard to reach area for evangelicals.
Grateful for these men & looking forward to learning some tips & tricks born out of real experience of reaching people in Louisiana.
Lane Corley 