Church at Addis
The Church at Addis is a Southern Baptist Church located in Addis, Louisiana. This rapidly-growing church is noted for the practice of "First Century Christianity". The Church is voluntarily affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention and the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge.[1]
The Church at Addis relies on the Holy Bible as its infallible guide for faith and practice. The Church accepts the Southern Baptist Convention Articles of Faith (1963)[2] as a summary of that guide to faith and practice.[3]
The Church has grown from 12 members in 2009 to more than 600 members in 2016 and believed to be the fastest growing church in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana and one of the fastest growing Baptist churches in Louisiana.
History[edit]
In November of 1957, the Northside Baptist Church of Plaquemine[4] sponsored a tent revival in the Addis area. It was led by Reverend Moody Adams. There were initially twenty-seven members. The Addis Mission was organized at that time.[5] [6]
Reverend Dean Davison, pastor of Northside Church, preached and acted as pastor temporarily. Reverend Jesse Garrison was called as pastor in January 1958. There were thirty-two charter members. The Mission borrowed five thousand dollars from the Louisiana Baptist Foundation in November 1958. The Mission bought ten acres of land on the east side of Louisiana Highway One, a house, and two acres of batture from Dr. Fred J. Rhinehart on December 31, 1958.[7]
The Addis Mission was renamed the New Hope Baptist Church of Addis in 1960.
Reverend Garrison resigned in 1960, so the New Hope Baptist Church called Reverend Ray E. Prager as interim pastor in February 1961.
The New Hope Baptist Church changed its name to the First Baptist Church of Addis in 1963.
The property purchased in 1968 was in excess of the church's needs so the church retained 3.69 acres with a municipal address of 6781 LA Hwy. 1 South, Addis, LA 70710 and sold the rest in 1964.
A red brick sanctuary with seating for eighty persons was constructed in 1965 for $19,641.90[8]
An activities building to the rear of the red brick sanctuary was completed in 1986. A service of dedication was held on June 1, 1986 with Reverend Frank B. Stagg officiating. Reverend Ray Praeger gave the charge to the church.[9]
Reverend Thomas Shepard was called as associate pastor in June 2009. He was called as senior pastor in July 2010, after the retirement of Pastor Franklin B. Stagg.[10] At the time of his calling as associate pastor, membership had declined to about twelve mostly elderly active members.[5][6] Shepard adopted the name "The Church at Addis" to broaden the appeal of the church so as to attract more people.
The Church at Addis today[edit]
Reverend Ben Harris was called as youth pastor and worship leader on January 1, 2011.
Shepard started to preach in the red brick eighty seat sanctuary people started coming to hear him preach. The small sanctuary soon become overfilled so a building was planned. In the interim a tent, provided by the Louisiana Baptist Convention, was erected on the church grounds and worship services were held in a tent.[5][6]
A new multipurpose 10,000 square foot building was erected in 2013[5][6] and worship services were moved into that building.
Since that time, membership has been growing at a rate of about thirty-five percent per year. The Church at Addis has become a regional church and attracts members from as far as 25 to 30 miles away, not only from Addis, Brusly, Plaquemine and Port Allen, but also from Walker, Watson, Denham Springs, Erwinville, Bayou Sorrel, and Donaldsonville.[5] Membership at the end of 2016 exceeded six hundred members.
First Century Church[edit]
The Church is guided by First Century practices as revealed in the New Testament. The Church emphasizes the Great Commission of Jesus to evangelize and baptize. The text of the Great Commmission (Matthew 28:18-20) is written on the wall of the multi-purpose building near the baptismal pool.
The dress code at the church is extremely informal "come-as-you-are." Communal meals are held on Wednesdays. Baptisms occur almost every Sunday. Pastor Shepard reported that more than three hundred persons, many of whom are former Catholics, have been baptized.[10]
The Church at Addis appeals to former Catholics. Shepard said, "I was raised a Catholic so I'm able to convey the message in a way that that they are able to come to the understanding that Jesus Christ is not necessarily the Lord of their life, yet they needed to do just that.[10]
Pastor Tommy Middleton, Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, said, "Tom [Shepard] has been doing a great work. His focal point is discipleship and he is using social media effectively, Old-school evangelism, sharing the Gospel, discipleship, but using current social media more effectively in connecting with people."[10]
Adult ministry[edit]
Worship services are held on Sunday mornings at 9:00am and 10:45am.
Men's and Women's Bible studies meet separately in the church at 6:30pm on Mondays.
A communal meal is held on Wednesday evenings followed by a Bible study.
Small groups meet in private homes at various times and locations.
Addiction ministry[edit]
The church sponsors recovery and support group meetings on Sundays for persons who are struggling with an addiction. A women's group meets from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the church and a men's group meets from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Children and youth ministry[edit]
The Church at Addis has an active children and youth ministry.
Jean Putnam is director of children's ministries. The eighty seat sanctuary is now used for children's activities, including Children's Church on Sunday morning. The church offers Vacation Bible School in the summer.
Kevin and Lessie Stone are co-directors of youth ministries. Donnie Singleton is in charge of the junior high school age group.
The Church has an active Awana program. Awana meets on Sunday afternoons.
The Church sponsored a baseball clinic for underprivileged children utilizing pro sports athletes and the LSU baseball and softball teams at Myhand Park in 2015.[11]
In February 2017, the Church is constructing a new building for youth activities to the rear of the multi-purpose building.
Prison ministry[edit]
Pastor Earnest Swanson directs some men of the Church who practice prison ministry.
Nicaragua mission[edit]
The Church supports a school in Nicaragua. The school is named the Instituto Cristiano Denis Cáceras El Reneuvo. This is a Christian school in the midst of secular schools, teaching a Christian world view. It is located in Condega, Esteli Department. It currently has seventy-six students and is growing.[12]
Internet ministry[edit]
Sermons are videotaped and uploaded to the Church at Addis YouTube Channel[13] from which they may be accessed and viewed by anyone in the world who has Internet access.
The great flood of August 2016[edit]
South Louisiana experienced a historic extreme rainfall on August 11–13, 2016, which resulted in extensive flooding of tens of thousands of homes which had never flooded before.[14] However, West Baton Rouge Parish, the location of the Church at Addis, did not flood, although all of the surrounding parishes did experience significant flooding.[14]
The Church at Addis temporarily became a humanitarian distribution center to provide food and other supplies to provide relief to flood victims.[14] The chairs were removed from the sanctuary. Numerous eighteen-wheel trucks arrived from Tennessee, Alabama, the Carolinas, and elsewhere to deliver donations of food and other supplies to the church, which were distributed to needy flood victims.[14] There was so much food and other supplies that it became necessary to obtain a warehouse at Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, Louisiana to store it.[15]
The Church's efforts to provide relief to flood victims has been recognized and honored by Glenn Beck and by Samaritan's Purse. The Church was awarded the annual West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce[16] Award on February 7, 2017 for Outstanding Community Service in 2016.
The future[edit]
Plans are being made to demolish the outgrown red brick, eighty seat former sanctuary building and to construct a one thousand seat sanctuary in its place to provide for future growth of this community of faith. The existing multi-use building would then be converted to an education building.[17]
References[edit]
- ↑ Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge
- ↑ Baptist Faith and Message (1963)
- ↑ Constitution of First Baptist Church of Addis (1963).
- ↑ The Northside Baptist Church is located at 57945 Trosclair St, Plaquemine, LA 70764.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Hunter, Mark (February 28, 2013). "First Addis meets in tent while new building's built". Baptist Message. Alexandria. 128 (5): 1, 3.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Hunter, Mark. (March 22, 2013) Adding up in Addis The Baton Rouge Advocate. Accessed 7 February 2017.
- ↑ Conveyance Records of Clerk of Court for West Baton Rouge Parish.
- ↑ Construction contract with Plaquemine Lumber Company.
- ↑ Program for Dedication and Celebration, June 1, 1986.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Hunter, Mark (March 10, 2016). "Addis growing like First Century Church". The Baptist Message. Alexandria. 131 (5): 1, 8.
- ↑ Dupont, John. (2015) Clinic hits homerun. Westside Journal, Port Allen.
- ↑ Instituto Cristiano Denis Cáceras El Reneuvo
- ↑ The Church at Addis Channel YouTube.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Welsch, Quinn (August 18, 2016). "THE FLOOD: The West Baton Rouge community responds". West Side Journal. Port Allen.
- ↑ Welsch, Quinn (September 7, 2016), "When the going gets tough, the Church at Addis gets going", West Side Journal, retrieved 6 February 2017
- ↑ West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce
- ↑ Statement by Pastor Shepard. February 5, 2017.
External links[edit]
- The Church at Addis
- Louisiana Baptists
- Baptist Message
- Southern Baptist Convention
- Baptist Press
- New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
- Lifeway Christian Bookstore
This article "Church at Addis" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
