The pastor of one of Baton Rouge’s largest Southern Baptist churches preached his farewell sermon March 4, before moving to a megachurch in Houston.
BATON ROUGE – The pastor of one of Baton Rouge’s largest Southern Baptist churches preached his farewell sermon March 4, before moving to a megachurch in Houston.
Stephen Trammell, senior pastor of Florida Boulevard Baptist Church for six years, will become pastor of leadership and care at Champion Forest Baptist Church, a 10,000-member church.
Trammell’s departure will leave three of Baton Rouge’s largest Southern Baptist churches looking for new pastors, noted the Rev. Rodrick Conerly, executive director of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge. Istrouma Baptist and Parkview Baptist are also without lead pastors.
Trammell’s decision to move came unexpectedly, after the Rev. David Fleming, Champion’s senior pastor and Trammell’s longtime friend, extended an invitation several weeks ago to join that ministry.
“My wife, Tonya, and I have always kept ‘our yes on the altar’ and said ‘Lord we’ll go where you want us to go and do what you want us to do,’” Trammell, 37, said Wednesday in his now-empty office at Florida Boulevard Baptist Church. “I wasn’t shopping for other opportunities — God just surprised us.”
Trammell said he was “pumped” at the opportunity, but was also saddened by the change.
“I’ve developed some deep relationships with the church family and the pastoral staff. We will certainly miss them.”
He said he is confident the 2,300 members of Florida Boulevard will be in good hands with the church’s eight other pastors and 40 employees.
The highlight of his six years, he said, was the way the congregation “turned on a dime” in response to Hurricane Katrina. “It was unreal. We were feeding 20,000 people a day, clothing the victims and housing response workers. That was our finest hour.”
Trammell got national media exposure after the hurricane when he appeared on CNN, CBS News, “Good Morning America” and other network news programs. He used that opportunity, he said, “to make God known locally and globally. God allowed the storm and it was an opportunity for the church to show the love of God to a hurting world.”
He also used the opportunity of Katrina to break down a racial barrier between predominantly white and African-American Baptist congregations. When the 8,000 members of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church of New Orleans, Louisiana’s largest pre-Katrina Baptist church, needed a place to worship, Trammell offered Florida Boulevard’s sanctuary to Fred Luter, Franklin Avenue’s pastor.
More than 600 Franklin Avenue members met for a year at Istrouma Baptist then last month moved over to Florida Boulevard Baptist, where they meet the first and third Sunday afternoon each month.
“Fred Luter and I already had a great relationship,” Trammell said. “Katrina broke down some houses but it also knocked down some walls that separated people.”
His personal highlight, he said was “the privilege of leading our two children, Tori, 13, and Austin, 8, to the Lord at home then baptizing them in the church,” Trammell said.
Trammell had a larger impact locally than just at the church. He was involved with the Baptist student ministry at LSU, the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, a coalition of several hundred local churches.
“When Katrina hit, Stephen and the Florida Boulevard Baptist congregation really came through,” Conerly said. “I hate to see him go.”
Trammell, who grew up in Alexandria, said he turned his life over to Christ after he was nearly killed in a jet-ski accident as a boy in 1979. “God called me to preach on Feb. 26, 1986, at the age of 16,” Trammell said. He is a graduate of Louisiana College, and earned master of divinity and doctorate of ministry degrees at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He married Tonya, a certified elementary and special education teacher, in 1991. Their daughter Tori, 13, enjoys cheering, tumbling and sports, he said. Austin, 8, plays basketball, baseball, football and golf.
This article first appeared in the Advocate daily newspaper in Baton Rouge.