By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Louisiana Baptist lawmakers Rep. Gabe Firment, Sen. Rick Edmonds and Rep. Mike Johnson championed critical legislation that offer to significantly enhance the work of Louisiana churches while positively shaping the spiritual culture of the state.
CHURCH SELF-INSURANCE
All three played vital roles in passage of SB 341 (signed into law as Act 759) that should complete the last legal requirements needed to operate the church self-insurance program under the Louisiana Churches and Nonprofit Religious Organizations Self-Insured Fund established in state law.
Edmonds, the pastor of First Baptist Church, McComb, Mississippi, and retired pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Shreveport, authored the bill and shepherded it throughout the legislative process in both the Senate and the House, ending his oversight only after the governor’s signature.
Meanwhile, Firment, who is a deacon with First Baptist Church, Pollock, offered essential amendments, including the deletion of “joint and several liability” obligations from the program, meaning the cooperative can now offer a viable insurance product that should be attractive to churches. He also arranged for a crucial meeting with chief lawmakers, administrators and regulatory officials.
Johnson, a member of First Baptist Church, Pineville, who is the Speaker Pro Tempore (second ranking lawmaker in the House), was a major participant in the talks and used his influence to help resolve a daunting impasse about “joint and several liability.”
Julie Emerson, a member of First Baptist Church, Lafayette, who serves as chief of staff with Gov. Jeff Landry, lent her influence, too, during those successful discussions.
The final hurdle for the church self-insurance program will be regulatory approval by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
WORSHIP SAFETY
Firment and Edmonds were successful as well in providing protections for worshipers in response to the January 2026 invasion by thugs who disrupted the Sunday morning service of Cities Church, which is a Southern Baptist church plant in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Under Louisiana law, churches already have the right to use deadly force in response to active shooter situations. Firment wrote HB 294 (now Act 148) to give churches a tool to deal with disruptive situations that do not rise to that level pf violence. Now congregations are protected against liability when they physically remove a trespasser who fails to comply with a verbal request to vacate.
At the same time, Edmonds sponsored SB 306 (Act 379) to prevent outside agitators from interrupting worship services. The new law significantly increases criminal penalties (both fines and jail terms) as a deterrent against such criminal behavior.
Now legislation is being discussed that will allow congregations to sue groups and individuals who organize, fund, promote, lead and participate in preplanned terrorism against churches. Such civil actions will allow congregations to drain the financial reserves that adversaries use to attack Christian ministries.
CHILD SAFETY, BIBLICAL MONUMENT
Edmonds also offered public policy measures to protect children against human trafficking, and to honor the historical impact of the Ten Commandments in our state.
Gov. Jeff Landry signed Edmonds’ SB 83 into law as Act 737, which requires all public schools to adopt policies and provide advanced training to prevent human trafficking, to identify and report instances of human trafficking, and to give special assistance to victims.
Additionally, Edmonds pushed through SB 307 (Act 487) to approve the construction of a “suitable monument displaying the Ten Commandments” on the Capitol grounds with a plaque that describes the context for the memorial as “Acknowledging America’s Religious History” – all “without cost to the state.”
BIOLOGY BASICS
Rep. Johnson and Rep. Raymond Crews, a member of First Baptist Church, Bossier City, offered significant legislation to ensure state public policy is clear about fundamental notions of basic biology, specifically sexual identity.
Johnson’s “Restoring Biological Truth Act” (HB 578/Act 814) overhauls the state civil code to delete all uses of the fluid term “gender” and to replace it with the well-defined term “biological sex.”
Adding emphasis, Crews’s HB 1137 (Act 579) prevents employers from forcing an employee or applicant to use preferred pronouns when addressing others if doing so would cause the person to violate his or her religious beliefs about biological sex. In 2024 Crews authored HB 121 (Act 680) which gave similar protection to school employees.
LOUISIANA BAPTIST INFLUENCE
Louisiana Baptists in both the House and Senate offered important legislation in other areas not directly related to specific points of faith expressed in Louisiana Baptist consensus statements of belief, but that supported “quiet and peaceable” living (1 Timothy 2:2) for the people of the state.
In that regard, these men and women of faith are impactful in their respective spheres of influence with a number in leadership positions in the House and Senate.
HOUSE
In addition to Johnson (House speaker pro tempore), Firment chairs the Insurance Committee, and Crews chairs the House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.
Furthermore, Jack McFarland, a member of Caney Lake Baptist Church in Chatham, chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and five other Louisiana Baptists (Roy Daryl Adams, First, Jackson; Dewith Carrier, Oberlin; Kim Coates, Trinity, Hammond; Dodie Horton, First, Haughton; Shane Mack, Bethlehem, Albany; Philip Tarver, Sale Street, Lake Charles) serve with him on this committee (among 28 members total). McFarland also is vice chair of the Legislative Committee on the Budget.
Among the 15 Louisiana Baptist House members, two others serve in leadership positions: Horton chairs the Legislative Bureau and is vice chair of the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee; and Wayne McMahen, a member of Central Baptist Church, Springhill, is vice chair of the House Health and Welfare Committee.
Finally, Kim Carver (First, Covington), Danny McCormick (Trees, Vivian), Rodney Schamerhorn (First, Anacoco) and Roger Wilder (Hebron, Denham Springs) do not chair committees, but they have shown leadership by undertaking key issues such as protecting the unborn, strengthening parents’ rights, defending religious liberty, upholding private property ownership and safeguarding women and girls against men claiming to be females.
SENATE
What’s more, there are eight Louisiana Baptists in the state Senate, and all of them have committee leadership positions:
— Mark Abraham (Trinity, Lake Charles), vice chair, Judiciary C
— Adam Bass (Cypress, Benton), chair, Select Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs; and vice chair, Insurance
— Stewart Cathey, Jr. (First, West Monroe), chair, Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development
— Edmonds, chair, Education
— Sam Jenkins (Baptist Bible Fellowship, Shreveport), vice chair, Revenue and Fiscal Affairs
— Jay Luneau (Emmanuel, Alexandria), chair, Local and Municipal Affairs; vice chair, Judiciary A
— Beth Mizell (First, Franklinton), chair, Commerce; vice chair, Senate Select Committee on Women and Children
— Alan Seabaugh (Broadmoor, Shreveport), chair, Labor and Industrial Relations
The 2026 Regular Session of the state legislature ended June1. However, joint committee meetings (between the House and Senate) are underway through June. The 2027 Regular Session is scheduled to be convened April 12 and adjourned June 10.
