The Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health exists to assist Southern Baptist churches and agencies in developing and implementing strategies for effective evangelism and measurable church growth.
To accomplish this task, The Leavell Center will focus on the following objectives:
...to motivate and equip professional and lay church leadership for evangelism and church
growth in a rapidly changing world.
...to provide access to all available resources for evangelism and church health.
...to empower the faculty to assist the churches they serve to grow.
...to support academic programs in church growth and evangelism as needed (resources,
personnel, facilities).
...to provide a context for research in and reflection on evangelism and church health.
...to develop evangelistic growth and health strategies for the various types of Southern
Baptist churches.
Brief History
In January 1992, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary opened The Center for Evangelism and Church Growth, the first facility of its kind in the Southern Baptist Convention. In March 1995, seminary trustees renamed The Center in honor of the seminary’s seventh president, Dr. Landrum P. Leavell, II, a specialist in evangelism and church growth. Today, our Administrative staff provides support for the evangelism and church health courses and degrees offered by the seminary.
The Leavell Center facilities offer an outstanding site for conferences, workshops and training retreats. A multitude of media sources can be projected onto our large screen, giving participants access to video, computer, internet, and satellite TV resources.
We have made more technology investments to provide comprehensive demographic analysis of any church field in the nation, growth analysis for any church in the SBC, and a Louisiana mapping center database to facilitate door-to-door outreach in our state.
The Vision
We see a day when
...more churches will be healthy and growing through dynamic evangelism and effective
ministries.
...more churches will be revitalized spiritually.
...more Christians will be equipped for Great Commission service in the Kingdom of
God—an unshakable Kingdom with an unshakable King, Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
The Priorities
1. Evangelizing the lost in North America and the world
2. Revitalizing churches, helping them grow again
3. Praying for spiritual awakenings through personal renewal and general movements of God