Blog Archives
Reaching Rural Louisiana
This week we hosted Kyle Bueermann from NAMB’s Rural Replanting Team. Some great resources are available through this team. Check out: https://replanthub.com/ (register for free and gain access to an incredible library of resources). Also: https://www.namb.net/church-replanting.
The Rural Pastor Podcast with Andy Addis is really good –https://theruralpastor.com/. (Look it up wherever you get podcasts).
Rural Louisiana:
- 40 of Louisiana’s 64 Parishes are considered Rural by the Dept. of Health.
- 29% of Louisiana’s Population live in these 40 Parishes.
- 52% of our Louisiana Baptist Churches are in these 40 Parishes.
- We have 12 towns in these parishes with no SBC church.
- New churches are definitely needed in at least 3 of these parishes.
- Replanting is needed in most of them.
There are significant transitions and struggles happening for many of these churches.
- Declining Populations (45 of 64 parishes lost population over the last 10 years).
- The need for Bivocational Pastors with fewer jobs available in these areas.
- AND some are growing and stand to grow through Urban and Suburban spread, changing the culture in the area, which churches have to transition to as well.
Lots of great opportunities for meaningful ministry in Rural Louisiana. Partners, Planters, Replanters, Pastors needed.
Ten Fastest Growing Parishes in Louisiana
45 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes experienced a decline in population in the last 10 years. However, places are still increasing in population. All of these places need churches to be planted and/or replanted.
10. Lafayette Parish – 11.84% Growth – north of Lafayette along I-49 would be a great place for several new churches.
9. Tangipahoa Parish – 12.95% Growth – The east side of Ponchatoula and Hammond are experiencing a residential building boom, with lots of young families moving in. Come plant on the I-12!
8. Bossier Parish – 13.08% Growth – great opportunities for replanting are opening up all around NW Louisiana.
7. Livingston Parish – 14.48% Growth – 80% of the parish flooded in 2016 and the growth never slowed.
6. Orleans Parish – 15.19% Growth – continuing the Katrina comeback. Great opportunities all around the Crescent City.
5. Calcasieu Parish – 16.2% Growth – replanting potential in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. LNG will make this area fast-growing for years to come.
4. St. Tammany Parish – 17.15% Growth – my neighborhood needs a new church. Come plant with us on the I-12!
3. West Baton Rouge Parish – 18.64% Growth – farmland is becoming fertile ground for planting churches.
2. Ascension Parish – 23.38% Growth – This parish is south of Baton Rouge on I-10. Residential growth is fueled by industrial plant growth.
1. St. Bernard Parish – 28.49% Growth – continuing the Katrina comeback.
Ten Great Parishes to Plant or Replant a Church in 2024.
- Get started on your planting or replanting journey with Send Network here: https://www.namb.net/send-network/get-involved
- Contribute to Church Planting and Replanting Efforts across Louisiana through the Georgia Barnette State Missions Offering here: https://georgiabarnette.org/give/
- Contribute to Church Planting and Replanting Efforts in Louisiana and across the United States and Canada through the Annie Armstrong National Missions Offering here: https://www.anniearmstrong.com/checkout/
Multiply Lake Charles
Lake Charles is projected to be one of the fastest growing communities in Louisiana for years to come. Oil and gas and chemical manufacturing are booming and have only slowed down slightly with drops in oil prices. Carey Baptist Association and Director of Missions Bruce 
Baker serve this area, representing Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis Parishes. Planters and partners are needed to reach a growing population and a key area for our state for years to come. Check out some data on this area:
- Population of Carey Baptist Association: 241,662 (up 3% since 2010). Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, and Cameron Parishes.
- Worship Attendance in 72 SBC churches: 9,128 Only 3.8% of the population worshipped in a SBC church on any given weekend in 2018.
- Bible Study Attendance: 5,227 (down 20% since 2010). Only 2.2% of the population attended Bible Study in an SBC church on any given weekend in 2018.
- 72 SBC churches for a church to population ration of 1 to 3,356 residents. Our state average & our goal for each association is 1 to 2,850. NAMB suggests 1 to 2,000 as a good mark. 12 new churches would be needed to get to 1 to 2,850 in the Lake Charles area.
- 57 SBC churches in Calcasieu Parish for 1 to 3,563. 10 churches in Jefferson Davis Parish for 1 to 3,158.
- Only 10 non-Anglo SBC churches for 1 to 6,714 church to non-anglo population.
- Evangelical Population: 59,161 or 24% of the population.
- Those with No Religious Affiliation or None’s: 65,878 or 27% of the population. So there are now more None’s than Evangelicals.
- Roman Catholic Population: 83,950 or 35% of the population.
- Mainline Protestant: 11,157 or 5% of the population.
- 7,302 students currently attend McNeese St. University.
- 63% of Carey Association churches are under 100 in attendance. 38% under 50 in attendance.
- 28% of Carey Association churches with zero baptisms in 2018.
- Projected Job Growth is 2.5% in 2020 and 3.1% in 2021.
Pray for planters and partners.
Most Diverse Cities in Louisiana? Kenner, Bossier City, Lake Charles
Study details the nations most diverse cities. What’s the most diverse cities in Louisiana? Kenner, Bossier City, Lake Charles – http://ow.ly/Tk4Kh.
Louisiana Cities in order:
1. Kenner – 27th overall
2. Bossier City – 85th overall
3. Lake Charles – 139th overall
4. Baton Rouge – 154th overall
5. Shreveport – 183rd overall
6. Metairie – 214th overall
7. New Orleans – 246th overall
8. Lafayette – 249th overall
Neat study. Get the entire thing here: http://ow.ly/Tk5QN
And a few other notes on diversity in Louisiana:
> Louisiana’s minority population is now 40.7%.
> Kenner now shows up as 22% Hispanic. The largest % in Louisiana.
> Five Louisiana parishes have seen shifts to minority majorities since 2000 – East Baton Rouge, Caddo, Claiborne, Morehouse, & St. John the Baptist –http://ow.ly/Tl1K2.
> Lake Charles is sure to grow in diversity over the next decade with the volume of construction projects projected. And the major project by SASOL, a South African Company, has been dubbed the largest FOREIGN manufacturing investment in U.S. History at potentially $8.1 billion –http://ow.ly/Tl2kK.
What impact is diversity having on Louisiana’s churches?
Top 5 Places to Plant a Church in Louisiana #SendNorthAmerica #churchplanting #send2015
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 five places to plant a church in Louisiana:
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 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.
And VERY close behind or tied with these FIVE:
- Lake Charles – Center of Louisiana’s Chemical Corridor. Expected to add 20,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
- Avoyelles Parish region – Still several communities that have never had an evangelical church.
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.
Believing for the Hard to Reach Areas: #ChurchPlanting in Avoyelles Parish
Before & after Life Point’s new Worship & Compassion Ministry Center was built in Mansura
Life Point Church in Avoyelles Parish is a favorite Louisiana church planting story of mine. Jacob Crawford started Life Point in 2010. They began receiving cooperative funding in 2012 and since then have baptized 104 in a traditionally hard to reach part of Louisiana. Life Point has grown from an average attendance of 65 in 2012 to 118 in 2013 to 165 this year. 75% growth since their first month of Cooperative Funding. Another remarkable thing about Life Point is that the congregation is 60% white & 40% African-American. That’s remarkable for almost any church in the South for one thing, but it’s also significant because it mirrors the racial makeup of the community. Life Point has used Compassion Ministry as a way to connect with people in the low income communities of Avoyelles, including thrift store, food distribution, Celebrate Recovery, Jail ministry & festival outreach. This year, construction was completed on a new Worship & Compassion Ministry Center in Mansura, LA. And now, as Life Point “rolls off” Cooperative Program funding, they are taking on the planting of a new church in the neighboring community of Plaucheville.
If anybody had said in 2010, that you could plant a church that would be 40% African-American & 60% white, & that church would grow to 200 in the heavily Roman Catholic, farming communities of low-income Avoyelles Parish, many would have doubted. But thank God Jacob & his team have kept believing in the power of the Gospel & today lives are being changed.
Connect with Life Point on Facebook. Get to know Jacob, especially if you’re planting in a rural area. And pray for Jacob & his team as they continue to plant seeds in Avoyelles Parish.
Listen to Jacob tell part of their story in his own words in these videos:
Self-Control in a Culture of Excess
I love Louisiana. It’s one of the most unique places on earth. From Mardis Gras to Duck Dynasty to Acadiana to Cafe Dumonde, you can find a lot here that you can’t find anywhere else. One thing about Louisiana is that we tend to be defined by our excesses – food, drink, parades, etc. I like this list:
You might be from Louisiana if…
- The four seasons in your year are Crawfish, Catfish, Gumbo, and King Cake.
- You judge a po-boy by the number of napkins used.
- You refer to cold temperatures as “gumbo weather.”
- The four food groups are boiled seafood, friend seafood, grilled seafood, and beer.
- You believe that purple, green, and gold look good together and you will eat things those colors.
In this culture Self-Control can almost be a dirty word – like diet, cholesterol, etc. But it’s constantly mentioned in scripture as a characteristic of a Christian.
And in the book of Proverbs, which Bridge Church is studying through this summer, self-control and wisdom could be synonymous. Proverbs gives us some great pictures of what it looks like to have & not have self-control. We talked about one of my favs yesterday at Bridge:
Proverbs 25:28 (ESV) 28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
Walls were the strength of an ancient city. They provided security, defensive positions to fight from, protection, control of who came in and who went out.
The first thing to come down upon conquering a city would have been the walls.
Same is true for us. If you don’t have self-control you lack security, a place to fight temptation from, control of who influences you & who does not. You are EXPOSED to the dangers in our world & the sinful nature within.
Solomon gets specific about self-control with four areas. What’s interesting is they are no different from the areas we struggle to control today. Four areas that tend to leave us without walls in our society today, or behaviors that break into our lives and destroy our walls.
1) IMPULSIVENESS & HASTE. In spending, rushing, & decision making.
Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) 2 Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
Proverbs 20:25 (ESV) 25 It is a snare to… reflect only after making vows.
Proverbs 29:20 (ESV) 20 Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.
2) IMPATIENCE & ANGER. Anger is one step from danger.
Proverbs 14:29 (ESV) 29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Proverbs 15:18 (ESV) 18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
Proverbs 19:19 (ESV) 19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
3) INTOXICATION & GLUTTONY. Food, Drink, Pleasure.
Proverbs 21:17 (ESV) 17 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
4) IMMORALITY & PLEASURE. Our culture is out of God’s boundaries & out of control sexually.
Proverbs 6:32-33 (ESV) 32 He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. 33 Wounds and dishonor will he get, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
How do I Live a Life of Self-control?
Proverbs 18:10 (ESV) 10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
The opposite of having no walls is having a refuge to run to. Self-Control means learning to run to a safe place that is the Lord.
When tempted, run to the Lord. When you fail, run to the Lord. When others are tempted and fail, run to the Lord on their behalf or take them there.
Next Steps:
- Admit that “without the Lord, I’m without walls.” Salvation & refuge starts with recognizing your need for God’s help.
- Admit, “There’s nothing in life that can satisfy me like Jesus.” Sin is believing the lie that ________ can bring me more joy than God can in Christ.
- Admit, “What I’m mastered by will ultimately define who I am.” Be remembered for your trust in God, not your reliance on substance or sin.
Lane Corley 