By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
MANSURA – The retirement years may bring about visions of spending time at the grandchildrens’ home, traveling around the country in an RV or catching catfish for an entire day at an area lake.
However, for Norris Landry, retiring meant one thing – planting a church in a community with little evangelical presence.
“I was comfortable and everything was great,” said Landry, who retired as pastor of Hessmer Baptist Church last December to serve as a church planter at Point of Life Community Church in Plaucheville. “But I was uncomfortable that I wasn’t doing what God wanted me to do. I don’t know if I will ever retire. As long as I am able to, I will serve.”
Landry, who learned to speak the French language as a young boy growing up in Pierre Part, felt called to reach Cajun country with the gospel while attending classes in 1980 at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Head of Island.
A year later, Landry began serving as pastor of Loreauville Mission Church, a mission of First Baptist Church in New Iberia, while co-pastoring five miles away at Coteau Holmes Mission. He remained there until Hessmer Baptist Church called Landry to serve as its pastor in 1996.
Once he stepped down as pastor of Hessmer Baptist Church, he remained retired a grand total of 12 hours.
When Life Point Church Pastor Jacob Crawford asked Landry to come aboard as associate pastor of the Mansura campus and church planter in Plaucheville, he realized the challenge before him. According to a demographic profile by the North American Mission Board, in 2013 less than 1 percent of the population of the Plaucheville area attended a Southern Baptist church.
“Last fall when Jacob Crawford told me of his vision for planting churches in Plaucheville, I came to the conclusion this is where I need to be,” Landry said. “I realized it would be tough job. As I started visiting everywhere in Plaucheville, people were very friendly but reminded me this is a Catholic community.”
Even though no official worship service has begun, Landry has organized a Bible study that has met since February. The average attendance is between 12 and 14, though a high attendance of 23 occurred in late April.
Landry hopes eventually to build a structure to house worship services and a compassion ministry on the property, much like at Life Point’s Mansura campus.
There, around 180 worship each Sunday in the worship center that was completed in February 2014 and around 330 families a month receive boxes of food at the ministry center that opened in July 2014.
Volunteers from Hessmer Baptist Church primarily staff the ministry center, which is operated through donations primarily from the Church at Marksville, First Baptist Church in Zachary and Hessmer Baptist Church. Nearly 400 dollars a month is used as income for the center, generated by sales from a thrift store located inside the ministry center.
The Baptist Mission Builders completed the worship center while the Kingdom Builders constructed the mission center.
Point of Life Community Church is not the only church Life Point Church has planted.
Louis Charrier, who has planted numerous churches throughout the state, has started Bayou Life Church at Life Point’s clothes closet in Cottonport. Reginald Arvie is pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Bunkie, which is meeting at Bunkie Pavillion. Both churches started in May.
Crawford said the pastors like Landry are an inspiration to him.
“Not only is he one of my mentors; he is my friend,” Crawford said. “It has been like a breath of fresh air having him on staff. He and Ms. Donna (Landry) have brought spiritual maturity and stability to our church.”
As for its main campus in Mansura and church plants in Bunkie, Cottonport and Plaucheville, Crawford believes the future is bright.
“Its’ our goal as a church, Life Point, not to necessarily continue to grow upwards,” he said. “We want to grow out.”
Norris Landry stands in front of Life Point Community Church in Mansura. Landry retired as pastor of Hessmer Baptist Church last December but his retirement was short-lived. Jacob Crawford of Life Point Community Church convinced him to come and serve as associate pastor and he has planted a church in Plaucheville, Point of Life Community Church where he serves as its pastor. Photo by Brian Blackwell.
