Main Thing Podcast
This podcast encourages others to love God and people by leading them to know and follow Jesus’ truth.
Main Thing Podcast
Sown in Faith: History Pt. 1
We trace how a banker’s Bible study in 1910 and a rented room above a gas station grew into a multi-generational church shaped by bridge-building, longevity, and decisive leadership. From near-collapse to renewed mission, we share the pivots that moved us from 350 to 1,500 and toward an added campus.
• Early hostility and learning to build bridges
• Dr. Leon Hyatt and Dr. Fred Dice’s 32-year foundation
• Oil bust fallout and years of holding on
• Culture shock, 1999 arrival, and 2001 call to lead
• The meeting that broke the “choke collar”
• Promoting from within and choosing to lead
Main Thing Podcast with Pastor Steve, equipping you to respond and thrive in the world we live in today. Keep the main thing the main thing has been a saying that Pastor Steve has told for decades. It means no matter what is happening around us, Jesus is what we need to have front and center in our lives. There couldn't be a more powerful reminder for us to recall in today's divisive and dark culture. From foundational truths and scripture to the hot topics of today's culture, allow this podcast to inspire and motivate you on your faith journey.
SPEAKER_03:All right, good morning. Welcome back to the Main Thing Podcast with Pastor Steve. Pastor Steve, welcome. Thank you. Good to be here. We are going to do something a little different today. We're going to talk about how we got here. And we just thought it'd be fun to look through the history of our church. Going way back to even 1910, which is kind of the first bit of history we have. But I wanted to start today with a verse. It's 1 Corinthians 3, 6 through 7. And I think really every church would be well served to remember this verse and to always think about the people who came before us. But this is Paul talking, and he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. So I guess today we're going to look at who planted, who watered, and how God used all that to hopefully bring a church here to Terribone that has ministered to our community. So, Pastor Steve, once again, welcome. So glad you're here. But my first question for you is what do you know about the history of our church?
SPEAKER_01:I've educated myself on the history of our church. I did that when I first became pastor because I don't feel like you can lead a church forward if you don't know where it's been. And so I made a point to sit down. There were some old logs that we had, and I made a point to sit down and read through uh old business meetings and historical moments of our church to get a I'd say an overview.
SPEAKER_03:So uh, you know, our first service uh was June 4th, 1933. Um uh LC Smith was a student in New Orleans and had actually been in Pineville at the time, uh, came over and and met a family and and started the services there. Um but in 1910, I thought this was fascinating. In 1910, a man named J.W. Tharp came over here uh to start Homer's first bank. And while he was here, he, from what we understand, uh, and there may have been others, but from what we understand, that was the first Protestant Bible study that was started in Terraborne Parish in 1910. And you might remember this, but uh back in 2003, you had the the very small staff of First Baptist Home at the time read a book called Brothers We Are Not Professionals. But there was a chapter in that book called Bitzer Was a Banker. You remember that chapter? Yes. That's so fascinating. And I find it here Tharp was a banker. That's the one who originally brought the gospel to Terra Black.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and they they met in homes uh for many years uh on and off. And then around uh 1924 it it gained steam. And they met in homes consistently from 24 to 33 when they officially constituted.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So just maybe talk us through how some of the key moments in in our history, even beginning with 33 into the 50s, the seventies. What are some of the things you would see as key moments uh for our church?
SPEAKER_01:Well, if you look at some of the old pictures that we have, um the first thing that kind of strikes you that first church uh they rented the upstairs uh above a gas station. And they've got a picture. And I was I was taken back by how many people were in the picture. Um now I would assume um, having been here a while now, that that was probably mostly transplants uh that came to work in the oil field. Um, but there's fifty or seventy-five people in that picture. So at that period of time, in this culture, to have that many um non-Catholics meeting for worship together was quite a statement. Uh they met there for quite a while and then they bought a a building. Um, and I forget if they went to Blanger Street next, uh, but they they they bought a building on Blanger Street, and then after that they they bought another building. Uh and so the the church has had a history of doing what it needed to do to grow and to reach a community, um, had a series of pastors for many years there. Um one, two, three years at a time, just one after the other. Uh, probably because of the difficulty of doing ministry in in this environment uh as as a non-Catholic. Uh, because back then, today we get along very well with our brothers and sisters in the Catholic community. But back then, uh Catholicism uh had a very, very poor view of anything else. And they were very hostile to those early early Baptists in Terrebont Parish. And so Methodists as well. There's a great book out there, Anatoly's story, written by a lady here in town uh about her ancestors when they came to begin doing work in the Methodist church. Um, she tells how they used to have armed guards sit at the front door of the church when they'd have church to protect them, you know, from attack. And so it hadn't always been a welcoming environment uh for people to minister in. So I can only assume that's why people didn't last long. Right, yeah, you know. But then along about 1956, um a guy named Leon Hyatt, Dr. Leon Hyatt came and stayed 20 years, and that that became the foundation, I think, the launching foundation of this ministry. He he he stayed. I always tell people longevity does not guarantee success, but you can't have it without it. Somebody's got to plant and pay the price. And uh Dr. Hyatt did that um and and did an amazing work. Um they started somewhere around 15 mission churches uh during his 20-year tenure, also. Some of them are very, very active today. Um Christ Baptist, Mulberry Baptist, Koto Baptist, all of those came off of this church originally and then he was followed with a pastor that stayed 12 years, and I just went blank. Um Fred Dice. Fred Dice stayed 12 years. So in 32 years, they had two pastors and um just gave the church the stability and the leadership and the guidance that they needed for a long, long time. Yeah. And uh I think that's what gave it the traction to then go on and do what what the Lord has done here since then.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know, uh the phrase the more things change, the more they stay the same. Yes. You know, that's a big thing now. We start we start church campuses and we use different words, but they were doing that back in the 50s. Doing the same thing. Starting church campuses.
SPEAKER_01:Amazingly, they were doing what we call small groups in the 50s and 60s.
SPEAKER_03:Imagine that, huh? Yeah. Yep. All right. So in in in those years, what do you think were some key things that might have happened, you know, in the early years that led us here besides having two pastors that stayed for a total of you know 32 years?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think uh Dr. Hyatt and Dr. Dice both uh worked really hard at building bridges with the Catholic community. Um and I I think that's vital that that we all understand we're on the same team. Uh we all worship the Lord Jesus Christ, we're trying to build God's kingdom. That that's our assignment from Jesus. And so instead of setting this church up where we were against uh Catholicism, which is I I keep mentioning Catholicism, but they they were ninety percent of the population during those years. Today they're they're around sixty-nine percent, but sixty-nine is still huge. Uh and they worked tirelessly at building bridges uh between the two communities so that they didn't see each other as opponents but but rather uh as as entities trying to complement the kingdom work.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So uh in the past 25 years since 1999, when when you arrived, we we have a ch as a church have undergone, I think, some massive changes. Yes. You know? Would would you talk about some of those changes since you've been here? And and maybe if I could back up, how did you how'd you get here?
SPEAKER_01:Oh goodness. Former pastor was a friend and a college study buddy, and uh he had been here a while. Um he came up to Alabama to preach a revival for me at the church I was serving. And at the time we were doing um several things that they were not doing here. Uh, we had a strong discipleship program, uh, strong outreach program, some other things. And I was a single staff church. It was just me. And he asked me before he left that week, how are you doing all these things? To which I responded, you have four full-time pastors, and you're not. Um, so shortly thereafter, I got a phone call where he asked me to consider coming here to work with him. Um, and we we we turned that down. Uh, I had been here to visit in '96. And uh, I'll be honest with you, I thought the topography of the area was the ugliest place I had ever seen in my life. Uh, when I drove into town, I thought, oh my goodness. I remember leaving uh to drive back home. We had come over to visit uh Glenn and Karen. Glenn and Karen Wentworth was the pastor. And I remember driving out on 182, looking at my wife and saying, better him than me. Um, you know, so a couple of years go by and then it became clear uh our ministry was ending where we were. We had been there seven and a half years, uh, and uh we had hit a wall with our ability to lead that group, and we figured, well, maybe God is in this. So make a long story short, we ended up coming. And uh so in August of '99, uh, we moved to the swamp.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Yeah. You know, it's funny. That that drive in on 182, especially back then, was a was a scary drive. It's a scary drive.
SPEAKER_01:Because I live just outside of Auburn, Alabama on Lake Martin, which is probably one of the most beautiful lakes in America. And uh you you you look at leaving that and coming to the bayou. Now I I realize there are people who think the bayou is the most beautiful place in the world, but I take issue with that.
SPEAKER_03:I I don't think it is. Yeah. So you became when did you become senior pastor, the the main pastor?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's that's an interesting story. Once I got here, I'd been here about six months, and the pastor called me in to let me know that he was going to be leaving. Uh, and and uh which set me on my heels because we just moved 500 miles uh to what we believed was a foreign land. The culture is so different here than the Bible Belt. Uh we were a little bit in culture shock, and um uh he was gonna move home to his hometown, open a business. Um, and then he still was preaching, he was doing interims and fill-in and things like that, but he he was at a point in his life he wanted to do something different, but he didn't leave for another year, um, and so that was a very difficult year. Um knowing he was leaving, but not being able to address it in any way. So, long and the short of the story, he left um would have been the end of April of 01. And then I did the preaching while they were seeking a pastor, and uh in a nutshell, they voted on me to be the pastor the third weekend of November of 01. So I became the official pastor in in uh November of 01. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So, you know, uh my understanding is when you became pastor, uh our average attendance was in the 300s. Am I right about that?
SPEAKER_01:Uh 350 in a banner day would be 400, but our sanctuary, to get 400 in there, you packed them like sardines. So you you you never could reach those numbers with any consistency. Just every now and then you'd bump it up a little. But I'd I'd say honestly, around 350 would probably have been the average.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So, you know, going back to our our verse, I planted Apollos water, but God gave the growth. So Leon Hyatt, Fred Dias, some of those other pastors back in the 30s and 40s who probably uh faced things we have no idea about, you know. So they they they planted uh and then God starts watering, but uh it seems like God has really given the growth between 2001 and 2025. Uh, you know, right now, uh praise God, we we run about 1,500 uh on our Sunday services. Uh we're very close to uh opening up a new campus. What do you think are some key moments, say in the past 22, 23 years uh that God has used to help us grow as a church?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I think there's several things, um, but there are two or three key things that are very important. This church had been a Bible belt church located in South Louisiana. And what I mean by that was uh there was a time when the school board here uh had very few certified teachers. And so they reached out to um Northwestern uh and the other schools up in North Louisiana, and they offered five thousand dollars a year more in salary than the state average if you'd come to South Louisiana and teach. And so you had you had a huge influx of um Protestants from North Louisiana that came to Homa.
SPEAKER_03:And I can picture four or five families right now back in the 70s and 80s that would have been in the education system.
SPEAKER_01:And and they all settled in this church. So what they did was they effectively created a North Louisiana church in South Louisiana. And um uh I don't know, the best way I know to describe that's like hitting your thumb with a big hammer and expecting it to feel like the rest of your fingers. Uh, it just didn't fit. Yeah, you know, and so in the 80s when the oil field got in trouble, this church got in trouble. It it almost went belly up uh because all those people from somewhere else, they left and they went back home or to some other place for another job. And so the church went through several, several years of uh dark times. I mean, they barely hung on. Um, in fact, when we talked about going into this building campaign, our elderly church members were scared to death because they were the ones who who sacrificed and hung on during all that time to keep this church from closing. Um and so uh they were concerned that we'd start this building and the same thing would happen again.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and it kind of did, huh?
SPEAKER_01:It kind of did, didn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So the the number one thing, and it happened in a business meeting one night. We had a controversial topic, and we debated it about an hour, and the same four or five people had plenty to say, and it was all negative. And by the time we got to the point of voting, I thought, I'm the dumbest guy on planet earth. I I can't believe I even brought this up. Uh, but then we voted, and everybody in the room, but those four or five, voted with me on the recommendation I was making, and the light came on for me that night. And so there was a group of very well-meaning people uh from North Louisiana culture that had been the backbone of this church, no doubt, wonderful people, but they had also uh almost put a choke collar on it that it could only operate the way they thought it could operate. And in that night I realized the rest of them were ready to move forward. They weren't gonna argue, they weren't gonna debate, but they would vote with me if I would lead. And so I'd love to sit here and tell you that I was this really sharp pastor that had this really cool idea of how to move them forward. But the truth is, uh, our people were ready to move forward. And so that's the number one thing. I don't care how much you want to lead, if they're not ready to be led, uh you're not gonna do anything.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So our people get all the credit uh for wanting to move forward in building the kingdom. That's that's the the the number one thing. The other one is uh I had just read a book. Is it Tom Collins Good to Great? Doug Collins. Uh no.
SPEAKER_03:Um oh gosh. I'll Jim Collins. Jim Collins, thank you. I was gonna say, I'll think of it as soon as we're finished recording.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, a book had come out, Good to Great, and and as you know, you've read it. He chronicles several companies during a huge uh economic downturn that prospered. And the key factor with all of the companies that he talks about is they promoted from within. And the advantages of that was the new guy wasn't on a learning curve. He knew where he was and what he was dealing with, and he was able to uh get traction and go ahead and lead immediately. Um, and so my having been here right at two years before I became pastor, I knew where I was. I knew what I was dealing with. And so having read that book, it encouraged me, and I simply made the decision I'm gonna lead. I was, I would have been 40, about 42 at the time, because I came at age 40, and I had been in the ministry since 19, and I was at that place in my life where I was either gonna do real ministry or I was gonna go do something else. I wasn't gonna play church anymore. And uh, so I made a decision, we're gonna die on this hill. And the blessing is that I decided to lead, and our people decided to respond in a positive way. So those are the two key factors that have enabled us uh to do the things that we've done the last 20 plus years.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Well, guys, that was part one of uh kind of a church history, how we got here. I hope you guys join us next uh in a couple weeks for part two.