Louisiana Baptist Convention

The Louisiana Baptist Convention (LBC) is an association of Baptist churches in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Convention is composed of approximately 1,595 member congregations representing 869,490 members.[1]

The Louisiana Baptist Building on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria

The Convention was founded in 1848 at Rehoboth Baptist Church in Mount Lebanon in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana through the work of James Scarborough. It had an initial membership of 88 churches and 3,650 members.

Its early presidents included Edwin O. Ware, Sr., the principal founder of Louisiana College, the Baptist-affiliated undergraduate institution of higher learning in Pineville. Claybrook Cottingham, the president of Louisiana College from 1910-1941, was the LBC president from 1914-1916.[2]More recent convention presidents include J. D. Grey of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans and Fred L. Lowery, the retired pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bossier City, a televangelist, and Christian author.

Edgar Godbold was from 1919 to 1923 the corresponding secretary of the LBC executive board. From 1942 to 1951, he was the president of Louisiana College and from 1950 to 1951 the LBC state president.[3]An earlier Louisiana College president, W. C. Friley, was a corresponding secretary for the LBC in the 1880s.

The convention headquarters is on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in Central Louisiana. The convention meets in Alexandria November 11-12, 2013 for its annual meeting. The Reverend Steve Horn of the First Baptist Church of Lafayette is the only nominee for president of the association to succeed the departing Dr. Wayne Bailey, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Covington in St. Tammany Parish.[4]


References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Cottingham, Claybrook C.". A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (lahistory.org). Retrieved December 19, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Godbold Papers". lib.lsu.edu. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Jodi Belgard, "La. Baptist Convention to elect new leader at meeting in Alexandria," November 9, 2013". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. Retrieved November 10, 2013.

External links