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:
Church Planter, Partnership Development Started When You Were Born
Searcy Baptist Church, where my mother & sister are members, lead a Bible Study at a Mobile Home Park in Covington. They’ve been a vital partner in our ministry for years. Grateful.
I realized a few years ago that every church that I have ever been a part of since birth has played a role in my church planting journey. Beyond the investment in my life to share the gospel, care for my family, & teach me the word of God while I was there, they have either taken mission trips to help our church plants, given money or supplies, served as prayer partners & encouragers, or done all of the above. Looking back, I can honestly say, that I’m still planting churches today, because of God’s grace, & the incredible partners that He has put in my life to hold the rope for my family through prayer, care, & generosity.
When someone says to me now, “I think I want to plant a church one day”, one of my first questions is “How’s Your Network?” Because I know, I could not have made it, without every relational connection I have. I’ve needed every ounce of concern, care, accountability, & generosity they’ve given.
Church Planter, understand that you will need to leverage EVERY relational connection you have to be successful. God started developing your partnership network when you were born. Develop partners by:
- Make a list of everyone you know that may be interested in your spiritual journey, seeing you be fruitful for God, & seeing new people come to faith in Christ.
- Send them a letter or email letting them know about what God has done, is doing in your life, & invite them to be a partner through prayer & involvement. (You may need to call them & apologize for tearing down their basketball goal while a teenager, or some other shenanigans. Guilty.)
- Communicate regularly how God is using your work together to make a difference for Christ. Email, Facebook, Phone Calls, Text Messages, etc.
- Make the connection between God’s grace in your relationship with that church or individual & your own fruitfulness. And thank them every chance you get. And thank God for the gift of relationships with generous people.
Some come to faith in Christ & Church Planting later in life & don’t have as deep of relational connections as those blessed to be born into the faith.
- Don’t sweat it. Remember, God put you on this journey. He will bring the people around you to hold the rope as you dive in.
- Still, think way back to teachers, coaches, churches that may have taken an interest in your life & let them know where you are now. If nothing else, they’ll be blessed to see your faith & courage, but they may jump on board in other ways.
We share other partnership development hacks & resources at our Greenhouse Training for Church Multiplication. The next one is September 15 & 16 at Acadian Baptist Center in Eunice. Get more info & register HERE.
And, if you’re a church wondering what you could do in the world, let me suggest taking a look around at those who have grown up & gone out from your church in ministry to other places & see if there could be partnership opportunities. And there’s no right or wrong way to be a partner. Check out these 10 Ideas to get you started.
Our Reactions = Rats in the Cellar
What do my REACTIONS say about me? and about what’s in my heart? A lot! I love C.S. Lewis’ notes on our reactions being like rats in the cellar.
what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is… what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth. If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding.
what we are matters even more that what we do… what we do matters chiefly as evidence of what we are.
C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
My reactions to insults, interruptions, corrections, questions from people I have hidden angst against. My snapping at my spouse or kids or coworkers. These reveal what’s really in my heart. I can excuse it, call it an exception, blame it on my ancestors, but ultimately its pointing to something that’s amiss in my life. Christ’s work in our hearts produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These do not always automatically appear in our lives. They’re born out of being convicted of our sin and going to God for help.
Ask: What are my reactions saying about what I am? Ask Jesus, to reveal and replace for his glory.
Lewis finished this thought with a reminder of our need for God:
the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct, voluntary effort cannot bring about… After the first few steps in the Christian life we realise that everything which really needs to be done in our souls can be done only by God.
Happy 4th of July!
Several good Revolutionary War Books out this year:
- Just finished Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. Some good lessons on honor, self-control, & how not to raise a traitor.
- Reading now: Washington’s Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution. Great stories about the Marylander’s who gave it all for the cause of American freedom.
Heather & I usually always watch all or part of the John Adams miniseries each summer. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Good depiction of the events & characters leading up to America’s independence.
Reminded by these books that the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4th, 1776, didn’t automatically produce freedom. There would still be 7 more years of fighting until peace was signed with England on September 3, 1783.
Being a Christian means you’re free from sin’s ultimate penalty & we can experience freedom from sin’s power as we pursue righteousness through a relationship with Jesus Christ. But we’ll still battle sin & fight for this freedom as long as we’re on this earth – Pursue God & when we sin, seek his forgiveness. And remember one day, we’ll be FINALLY FREE from sin’s presence when we’re at home with God forever.
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.
Dealing with Difficult People
“God, knock the teeth out of their mouths.” Psalm 58:6
My first time, to preach on what is called the Imprecatory Psalms this weekend at Bridge Church. Imprecatory Psalms are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. They offer us an opportunity to see how people after God’s own heart deal with difficult relationships.
How do we deal with Difficult Relationships? How did David handle difficult relationships?
1. Take your frustration to God. Psalm 58:6, Psalm 69:19-24, Psalm 109:1-9, Psalm 55:1-8, 12-14, 22. It’s OK to feel frustration. Take it to God. Don’t allow your feelings to be your refuge. Only God can be our refuge.
2. Trust God to do what is best. Psalm 11:4-7, Psalm 52:1-5, Psalm 144:5-8. Don’t take vengeance. David actually extended grace to his enemies. Why? He knew his need of grace as a fallible leader & father. Be quick to extend grace. You’ll need some one day yourself.
3. Allow difficult relationships to remind you of your need of God. Psalm 57:1-3, Psalm 62:5-8, Psalm 71:12-15. David allowed his enemies to drive him to deeper trust in & dependence upon God.
People & our feelings will let us down. God alone can be our refuge.
Join Bridge Church this Summer as we study through Psalms in a series called Swells. 10:30am at the Maritime Museum in Madisonville.
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.
Lane Corley 