I am the senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Covington, Louisiana, a position that I have held since 1989.  FBC, Covington, is located near Interstate 12.  It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and is one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana.

This is my personal blog.  I post about two areas: pastoral leadership and Christian living.  I have an intense interest in the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, primarily through the ministry of the local church.  Having led FBC, Covington, to make important changes, how you “get things done” in the local church matters to me.  I don’t presume to be an expert but rather a practitioner and someone who has seen many things that work well in a congregation and some that don’t.  I intend to write about both.

As a pastor, I have seen the power of stories to move people and to affect them beyond the time that they hear the sermon.  “Stories Worth Telling” is my attempt to help preachers and other public speakers with stories that touch lives.

Because of my deep affection for my church, I write a weekly article about the state and future of FBC, Covington.  This is entitled Lagniappe (Lan-yap), a great New Orleans and Louisiana term meaning “a little something extra.”  Lagniappe is specific to one church, but it demonstrates my understanding of the work and ministry of the church.

I also write about Christian living.  Christians ask a lot of questions about faith, the future, the Bible, and how you live the Christian life.  I want to be helpful in those areas.

All of my adult life has been spent in ministry, most as a pastor of a local church.  I also spent seventeen years as a professor in a theological seminary.  Six of those years I served as the J. Wash Watts Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew and the Chairman of the Division of Biblical Studies at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary while also pastor of FBC, Covington.  I have written five books and am working on a devotional book to be published next year. In November 2011, I was elected President of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

I am married to my high school sweetheart, Martha.  We have two grown daughters and four wonderful grandchildren.  We live in Covington.