DEBORAH CORRAO / L’Observateur / April 14, 1999

“The church is our heart,” announced Rev. Major Speights of First BaptistChurch of LaPlace as he broke the news to his congregation that he would be retiring as their pastor after more than 27 years of service.

Speights, who will retire from the pulpit in May, says it was not his intention to stay for 27 years when he embarked on his ministry at First Baptist Church back in 1971.

“I assumed it would be one of many pastorates,” he reminisces, “but God had other plans and our lengthy stay was part of his overall plan.”Originally from Pearl, Miss., Speights had already served at churches inMcComb, Miss., Caldwell, Texas, and Denham Springs before taking on hisministry in LaPlace. At the time he arrived here attendance at FirstBaptist was about 150 at Sunday worship services.

During his tenure average Sunday attendance has burgeoned to about 400, with 300 core families calling First Baptist home.

In addition, Speights has been instrumental in helping establish two other congregations, Woodland Baptist and Reserve First Baptist, which began as missions and eventually became self-supporting churches. A new mission,the Ebenezer Hispanic Mission, now meets in the old sanctuary at First Baptist. About 40 people attend the services, which are conducted inSpanish.

Speights’ work has also taken him out into the community. He is one of theleaders of the St. John Parish Clergy Alliance, serves on the board of RiverParish Hospital and helped set up the St. John Ministry of Care, anorganization to assist the needy in St. John the Baptist Parish.Major Speights got his name from his grandfather but credits his success (though he’s hesitant to call it success) to his wife, LaRue, whom he met in 1962 while both were seminary students. During their marriageSpeights says his spouse has been his “right and left hand.””For thirty-five years, LaRue and I have been a team,” he said in his resignation to his congregation. “She has been 100 percent plus supportiveand the perfect partner as a pastor’s wife and mother. I have tried to behelpful and encouraging to her highly successful ‘ministry’ as an English teacher at East St. John High School.”For those reasons, Speights says he and his wife decided they would retire as a team. LaRue Speights will retire at the end of the 1998-99 schoolyear.

Speights says the decision did not come easily for either of them.

“We have been thinking, praying and discussing as to when we would retire,” he says. “Retirement was inevitable because of our age. We feltthe timing was right now. The church is strong and in a good position tocontinue its ministry.”Speights softened the blow to his congregation by deciding to remain in LaPlace for now, although he and his wife are planning to travel more often to visit friends and family, including three grown children who are scattered in other areas.

All three of the Speights’ children attended high school at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. Their oldest child, Stephen, is nowa writer and composer living in New York City. Daughter Jennifer Binetlives in Baton Rouge, where she is pursuing her doctorate in urban geography at Louisiana State University.

Another daughter, Stephanie Hollinger, lives with her husband, Doug, in Texas, where she is pursuing a doctorate in English literature.

The Hollingers are the parents of Major and LaRue Speights’ only grandchild, 15-month-old Zoe.

Proudly displaying a recent photo of the toddler, Speights says, “Now we only get to see her every three or four months. We need to spend moretime with her. We can hardly wait.”And the couple have not ruled out the possibility of other avenues of ministry. Speights says they may be willing to accept short term interimpastorships or volunteer missions in the United States or overseas.

The retirement of Major Speights has been sad news for many members of the congregation, tempered only by the fact that the minister and his wife plan to stay active in the church.

“The congregation has become truly part of our family,” says Speights.

“Hundreds of families have come through the church. Now we have aworldwide network of friends who are still a part of our lives.”On the eve of his retirement, Speights says he finds special enjoyment in seeing a second generation of young people taking active leadership roles in the church, from serving as deacons to teaching Sunday School.

“I recently performed a marriage ceremony for a young lady whose parents were the first couple I married in this church,” he says.

In addition, with the support and encouragement of Speights’ pastorship, six young men from the congregation have chosen to go into the ministry and have been ordained at First Baptist Church.

And while those events have made his lengthy tenure happy and meaningful, it has not been without its disappointments.

“It’s difficult to see the deterioration of families, the breakup of marriages, children and young people who have strayed from God,” Speights says. “Also, many of our church family have died over the years,some young, some tragically, some late in life.”A graduate of Mississippi College, the New Orleans Baptist Seminary and Baylor University, Speights has presided over three major building programs at First Baptist to fill the needs of an ever-growing congregation.

He says he has witnessed four or five periods of unusual growth and spiritual renewal in his church.

“The best days of spiritual and numerical growth for First Baptist will take place during the new few years,” he says. “I believe that we are nowpoised for the church’s finest hour and that God has led us, people and staff, to lay foundations for a great future.”To that end, he says, the church’s plans and decisions will require strong pastoral leadership for a minimum of three to five years. He says it istime for a younger man with long range vision and plans for the future to step in.

It won’t be easy to fill Major Speights’ shoes. To find another pastor, thecongregation is in the process of forming a search committee to choose candidates, conduct interviews, do background checks and make a final recommendation to the congregation.

The trouble is the congregation has no experience in that process. Theyhaven’t had to do it for almost 28 years.

The church has hired an interim pastor, Dr. Harold Bryson, who will manthe pulpit temporarily beginning July 1. Bryson taught at the New OrleansBaptist Seminary as a Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Ministries and serves on the faculty of Mississippi College.

Major and LaRue will be viewing all these events from a decidedly different perspective.

Asked how he will feel sitting in a pew on Sunday mornings instead of standing at the pulpit, he laughs.

“I don’t know how I’ll feel,” he says. “I’ve never done it before.”Back to Top

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