The recent St. Landry Church burnings led Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church where he shared a message from the Gospel of Matthew from the pulpit of the Opelousas based church.
Before the governor addressed those in attendance at the service set for the purpose of raising money for the three churches burned, the crowd heard from Reverend Edward Alexander, President of the Louisiana Missionary Baptist State Convention; Reverend Freddie Jack, President of the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association; Reverend Calvin Moore; and Reverend Arthur Johnson. Those in attendance were also treated to the delightful sounds of the Voices of Victory. Closing prayer was by Rev. Joel Green, Jr.
While addressing visitors from the three churches that were burned, which were St. Mary Baptist Church, Greater Union Baptist Church and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Edwards said, “While our hearts may be heavy today because of the burden we have in this community to rebuild and everybody’s kind of been shook up, I hope this tragedy can be turned into a triumph of faith, hope and love.”
The governor then shared a part of Matthew 6:9 (the Lord’s prayer) that he said he wanted to highlight, which was, “Forgive us as we forgive our trespassers.”
He continued, “The congregations of St. Mary, Greater Union and Mount Pleasant, someone has trespassed on those congregations. It is our obligation to forgive. And, really it is actually more than that.
“Matthew 5:44 says, ‘But I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.’ And, I know that doesn’t come natural because we are human beings, but that is what we are called to do.”
The accused trespasser in the burning of the three historically black churches, which took place between March 26 and April 11, is Holden Matthews, 21. Matthews plead not guilty in this matter on Monday, April 15. He has been charged with three counts of hate crimes, two counts of simple arson of a religious building and one count of aggravated arson of a religious building. He has been denied bond.
During the service last Sunday, a special offering was taken up to help raise money to rebuild the churches burned.
Other fundraisers are also underway to raise money such as a GoFundMe account that has a $1.8 goal set. To donate visit https://www.gofundme.com/church-fires-st-landry-parishmacedonia-ministry.
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ELIZABETH WEST Managing Editor