By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Send Network Louisiana churches celebrated a Gospel harvest to start the new year, producing 190 decisions for Christ and 115 baptisms by 44 church plants from April to June.
Additionally, the Louisiana Baptist church plants reported 6,959 Gospel conversations and an average of 72 in weekly worship attendance, according to a recent second quarter report by Send Network Louisiana. Since January, these newly formed congregations have seen 341 come to Christ and baptized 183 new converts.
Send Network Louisiana Director Lane Corley said the work would not be possible without Louisiana Baptist churches who contribute to the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Georgia Barnette Louisiana Missions Offering.
“Baptisms doubled in church plants this quarter from quarter one,” he said. “Church planting is evangelism that leads to a new congregation. It’s great to see churches starting through healthy evangelistic growth.”
GOSPEL VISION
The Send Network Louisiana partnership 1 between Louisiana Baptists and the North American Mission Board, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2023, has helped the state further its God-sized vision to see His Kingdom expanded in Louisiana by one percent over the next decade.
Researchers estimate that 62 percent of approximately 4.6 million of Louisiana’s citizens are lost (about 2.85 million). If this church planting and soul winning initiative is successful in the state, 28,875 new believers will be added to the Kingdom through 231 new churches planted in the state by 2033 (based on each new church reaching 125 unbelievers with the Gospel). These salvations will be in addition to those recorded by already established Louisiana Baptist congregations.
Since the partnership began, the new church plants that currently receive Cooperative Program funding through the North American Mission Board and Louisiana Baptist missions and ministries team, have reported, collectively: 1,221 salvation decisions, 793 baptisms and more than 22,089 Gospel conversations.
KINGDOM DEVELOPMENTS
In the second quarter, four new church planters and one church planting ap[1]prentice were added to the force of church planters on the field. They are working on church planting and replanting e orts in New Orleans, Kenner, Mandeville, Lafayette and Shreveport.
Additionally, 41 church planting candidates are in the church planting pipeline, Corley said. Potential church planters and replanters start out with an application process with the North American Mission Board. After being thoroughly vetted through biblical qualifications of a pastor and by the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the candidates move to an assessment process, which affirms their unique ability to take on the role of planting and replanting.
Send Network Louisiana fall events will celebrate what God has done and seek to equip churches to multiply the Gospel. On Aug. 26, the Send Network One Day Tour will stop at Norris Ferry Community Church, Shreveport. This is an event happening across North America to encourage pastors and inspire Southern Baptist to live life on mission. Learn more at https://louisianabaptists.org/events/send-network-one-day/.
There also will be Sending Labs in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, New Orleans (in Spanish) and Monroe. The Sending Lab is a one-day workshop that guides churches to develop a strategy to discover, develop and deploy planters, pastors, missionaries and other leaders through their church. Register at louisianabaptists.org/labs.
Interested in becoming a church planter or a sending church? Visit SendNetwork.com.
