A spot survey of Louisiana Baptist churches indicates “unusually
strong numbers” of the states Baptists and others found their ways
to worship services last Sunday as well as during the week.
A spot survey of Louisiana Baptist churches indicates “unusually
strong numbers” of the states Baptists and others found their ways
to worship services last Sunday as well as during the week.
Following a week of trauma caused by terrorists acts
against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in the nations
capital, millions of people attended gatherings at their churches and other
places of worship, according to news reports.
Louisianians were no different. Not only did people come to
special called prayer meetings during the week, they filled Louisiana Baptist
houses of worship on Sunday morning.
T.C. “Tommy” French, president of the Louisiana Baptist
Convention and pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, said “there
was not a seat left in the house” during their Sunday morning worship.
French said people in the worship service definitely had events
of the previous week on their minds. “They were pretty somber,” he
said about the mood of the service. The time of worship began with a patriotic
medley with a serviceman in uniform presenting the American flag.
French said he preached from I Timothy 1:7 with the sermon
title, “Dealing With Our Fear.” He said ten decisions were registered
during decision time.
Whit Holmes, pastor of First Baptist, DeRidder, which is near
Fort Polk, said attendance at their Sunday morning worship “was unusually
gooda full house.”
“I didnt notice a whole lot of difference in the
mood of the people,” Holmes said. “Because we have so many people
stationed at Fort Polk, there is probably a little more concern about what is
coming down the pike. Things were a little more somber.
“We had a member who had just been transferred to the
Pentagon, and we were able to report that he is fine.”
Holmes said the worship started by singing “America the
Beautiful” and having the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United
States.
The sermon was entitled, “If Anyone Among You Is Suffering,
Let Him Pray” for the text James 5:13-16.
Jerry Martin, bi-vocational pastor of rural Pine Grove, near
Saline, said that congregation experienced attendance Sunday morning “better
than we have had in quite a while.”
Martin said that while the worship time did not include an
overtly patriotic emphasis, the sermon for the congregation that reflected a
“reserved” mood “tried to answer the question of Why?”
using the text of Revelation 2.
Ed Simmons, pastor of Sale Street Baptist, said that attendance
at both of the churchs Sunday morning times of worship was “large.”
The times of worship began by displaying large flags and a
banner that read, “God Bless America!” Simmons said he preached on
the subject “Gods Word to a Nation in Crisis” using Isaiah 6:1-8.
Jim Lofton, pastor of First Baptist, Boyce, a small community
just outside of Alexandria, said the attendance there Sunday morning was “great.”
The only patriotic emphasis during the worship was the congregational
singing of “America the Beautiful.” Loftons message was on “The
God Who Is Always There” using the text of Psalm 50:14-15.
“The mood was from a bit somber to confident,” Lofton
said. “I was most impressed with the patriotism of the young. They even
did a brief patriotic musical presentation that evening.”
Randy McGee, pastor of First Baptist Church, Monroe, reported
that his congregations Sunday morning worship was, “Awesome.”
He said “attendance was out of sightthe largest since our high attendance
Sunday.”
The churchs worship began by the congregation singing
“The Star Spangled Banner” followed by an altar call for the nation
during which a Navy Commander that is a church member lead a prayer for the
nation, and those involved in the tragedies. The service concluded by the congregation
singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Mark Sutton, pastor of Brookwood Baptist in Shreveport, said
that attendance at both the churchs Sunday morning worship were “the
best we have hand in I dont know when.” There was patriotic emphasis
in the music and the services ended with an altar call for personal commitment
and for prayer for the nation.
Sutton preached on the subject, “When Your World Comes
Crashing In” using Psalm 123 as a text.
“We had 50 to 60 decisions and the entire downstairs was
filled with people kneeling in prayer during an altar call at the close.”
While all the pastors contacted gave glowing reports of Sunday
morning worship, they also reported moving times during prayer services during
the week.
Most of the pastors of churches with larger memberships reported
hundreds of people gathered in their worship centers for hastily-called prayer
services on Tuesday evening and Friday when President George W. Bush designated
that day as a day of prayer and remembrance.
“It was very unusual and meaningful,” Holmes, pastor
of First Baptist, DeRidder said. “Four or five hundred people gathered
in our worship center for a community-wide prayer service. At 7 (p.m.) we started
praying and for 30 minutes, that is all we did. Then we had a closing prayer.
It was powerful.”
Ed Simmons said some 250 people gathered at Sale Street church
for a hastily-called time of prayer. He was preaching a revival at another church,
but pastor emeritus Earnest Walker directed the participants that included people
from other churches and the community at large in small-group prayer meetings
across the worship center that lasted an hour.
Mark Sutton said that Brookwood had 70 people gather for prayer
on Tuesday evening and more than 400 attended a Friday noon service.
These churches are representative of the hundreds of Louisiana
Baptist churches that turned to times of worship, especially prayer, during
traumatic days that followed the national tragedies of last week. Efforts were
made to contact other churches, but because of a Monday noon deadline, efforts
were unsuccessful.