Louisiana Pastor's Roadside Prayer Station Reaches 400 Souls: 'Best Ministry I've Ever Had'
An 82-year-old Louisiana pastor is seeing his unique ministry yield "great dividends" as he has single-handedly reached more than 400 people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by ministering to them at a busy intersection.
He told Baptist Press his church had struggled to reach people and bring in new members, but he recently got an idea on how to share the hope of the Gospel with the small community.
"I've done a lot of door-to-door and prayer walking over the years," said Fogleman. "One day, I was standing out by the corner of the church I pastor now, and it's probably in the top two or three busiest intersections in our parish."
He decided to set up a prayer station at the intersection.
He set out to create signs and even built a cross to attract people.
Fogleman has faithfully sat or walked near the road three days a week for a couple of hours a day.
"It's just something the Lord gave me," Fogleman said. "It's the best ministry I've ever had in my life."
So far, he has had 440 people stop and ask for prayer, and baptized 11 people last June.
"I have people who honk at me and wave at me," he said. "I bump into people all the time who tell me they've seen me out there. It's a solid witness to a lot of people."
Now, a small pavilion with benches hosts people waiting to hear encouragement from the roadside minister.
The preacher told the outlet he has prayed for people facing extremely difficult seasons such as being homeless or addicted to drugs.
"I never know what I'm going to be praying for when somebody turns in," Fogleman said. "So, I think it's a great privilege just to be able to do it."
The 82-year-old has also had the privilege of leading people to Christ including two teenagers on their way to prom and one couple who responded to Fogleman's presentation of the Gospel and were subsequently baptized.
Sarah Biggs was saved at the cross at the intersection and met Fogleman at a nearby river to be baptized on a boat ramp.
"A boat was pulling in, and I asked them to wait so we could baptize her," said Fogleman. "When I did that the people on the boat started hollering and saying, 'Praise the Lord!'"
Biggs now attends his church.
"At my age and the Lord still giving me the strength to do what I do is an immense blessing," Fogleman said. "I'm a third-generation Baptist preacher, and my grandfather started nine churches, I think it was, and he was bi-vocational. My dad was also bi-vocational, and he pastored smaller churches."
He believes that the prayer stations can be used as an evangelism tool for any church. Fogleman even told the North American Mission Board's (NAMB) national director of personal evangelism, J.J. Washington, about the idea.
"Churches need to engage their communities, and Les' out-of-the-box thinking has yielded great dividends," Washington responded. "I think his story is a great encouragement for pastors and congregations in similar situations to find ways to step out of their comfort zones to engage in Gospel conversations."
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