A Church on Canal Blvd with a Quiet Plan
First Baptist Church of Thibodaux sits on a single block of Canal Boulevard in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and the building itself has a few quirks worth knowing before a first visit. Parking is not on-site alone: the church has built a working relationship with the friends next door at Regions Bank, and on Sundays many of the cars in the lot belong to Regions rather than to FBC. There is also street-side parking along Canal. Handicap-designated parking is reserved in front of the sanctuary on Canal Blvd.
Inside, the sanctuary is laid out for expository preaching - sermons that walk through books of the Bible verse by verse, with the point of the text driving the point of the message. Music is led by a full contemporary worship team and includes a stretch back into older material as well: the song list moves from the newest worship songs to hymns written in 1837. The combination is deliberate, not accidental, and it sets the tone for everything else the church does during the week.
Reach, Equip, Unify
The three words that frame everything at FBC Thibodaux are Reach, Equip, and Unify. They sit beneath the tagline at the top of the church's site and they appear again in the shape of the logo.
The four-part mission is the working definition underneath those three words: to submit to Christ's authority in all things, to worship God in spirit and truth, to share the gospel with the lost, and to make disciples among all peoples. Each phrase is represented in the logo by an arrow. A downward-pointing arrow stands for submission to Christ's authority. An upward-pointing arrow represents the posture of worship before God. Two forward-pointing arrows represent the gospel going out and the multiplication that follows when disciples are made.
Reach, in this framework, means encouraging people to evangelize beyond the four walls of the church. Equip means discipleship - growing Christians who can study the Bible on their own and teach it to others. Unify means cultivating a healthy community inside the church body so that the outward work of evangelism and the inward work of formation have a place to land.
Eight Core Values Behind Every Decision
The church's eight core values that shape its ministry decisions are: Servant Leadership, Word Centered, Wholehearted Worship, Family Focused, Gospel Saturated, Spirit-Empowered Prayer, Discipleship Driven, and Missions Minded. The church covenant that members affirm together before partaking of the Lord's Supper and at members' meetings includes the same eight values.
The covenant spells out what each value looks like in practice. Members agree to support the elders in their work and to seek their guidance in major life decisions. They agree to submit to the Bible's authority in every area of life and to gather for preaching, teaching, and the ordinances. They agree to practice believer's baptism by immersion and to come to the Lord's Supper with self-examination. They agree to disciple one another, to pray for elders, teachers, leaders, and ministries, and to keep walking in the gospel wherever they may end up - including finding another gospel-preaching church if they move away.
A Confession Rooted in 1853
The Statement of Faith is revised from the New Hampshire Confession of Faith of 1853, and includes eighteen articles that have shaped many Baptist churches for more than a century and a half.
Article I affirms that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard for Christian conduct and opinion. Article II affirms one living and true God - infinite, intelligent Spirit, whose name is Jehovah - existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection. Article III teaches that man was created in holiness but fell by voluntary transgression, leaving all mankind as sinners by choice. Article IV teaches that salvation is wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who honored the divine law by his personal obedience and made a full atonement by his death.
Article V defines justification as a gospel blessing that includes the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life, bestowed solely through faith in the Redeemer's blood. Article VI says the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the gospel and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own depravity and voluntary rejection. Article VII defines regeneration as a holy disposition given to the mind by the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth. Article VIII treats repentance and faith as inseparable graces wrought in the soul by the regenerating Spirit.
Article IX handles God's purpose of grace - Election - as the eternal purpose by which God graciously regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners, infinitely free, wise, holy, and unchangeable, and the foundation of Christian assurance. Article X teaches that sanctification is a progressive work begun in regeneration and carried on by the Holy Spirit through the word, self-examination, watchfulness, and prayer. Article XI is on the perseverance of the saints, taught as the mark that distinguishes real believers from superficial professors. Article XII is on the harmony of the Law and the Gospel. Article XIII is on a gospel church as a congregation of baptized believers associated by covenant, governed by Christ's laws, with offices of bishops or pastors and deacons. Article XIV teaches that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, prerequisite to church membership and to the Lord's Supper. Article XV keeps the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. Article XVI affirms that civil government is of divine appointment and is to be honored and obeyed except where it opposes the will of Christ. Article XVII draws the distinction between the righteous and the wicked in life and after death. Article XVIII is on the world to come, the return of Christ, the resurrection, final judgment, and the eternal states of heaven and hell.
Expository Preaching, Verse by Verse
The preaching page is unusually specific about what happens in the pulpit. The style is expository: the point of the text is the point of the sermon. Pastors work to expound the Word of God in its original context and apply its truths to the hearts of the hearers. The preaching aims to be both doctrinal and practical.
The church typically preaches through books of the Bible during the Sunday morning worship service. Recent series have included walks through 2 Samuel, Philippians, 1 John, the Psalms under the title Lessons in the Psalms, a series called The One Anothers of the Bible, and a current series on Core Values. Passages range from Colossians 1:9-14 and Titus 2:1-8 to Philippians 4:10-19 and 2 John 1:4-11, with regular preaching through smaller psalms and Pauline epistles.
The translations the church highlights as highly regarded are the English Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible. The church links to further reading on expository preaching from 9 Marks, Grace to You, and Desiring God.
Music That Reaches from 1837 to Last Sunday
The music page begins with the same conviction that runs through the preaching: the goal of the music ministry is to equip the people of God to do the work of God. The aim is to point people's attention, focus, hearts, and adoration to the praise of Jesus.
The team selects songs that are doctrinal and rooted in Scripture, and the song choice is drawn from the text being preached that week. The style is contemporary with a full worship team of many different instruments, but the songbook deliberately ranges from the newest worship songs to hymns written in 1837. The church's music team also writes original music to lead in worship.
Several passages serve as the biblical foundation for worship: Psalm 98:1-6, Psalm 150, Colossians 3:16, Romans 12:1-2, and 2 Chronicles 5:13. The working principle is that worshipers are not spectators but participators, and that the church gathers weekly to celebrate God's goodness and grace, the finished work of Christ on the cross, and the freedom gained through it.
What Sunday Looks Like in Thibodaux
Sunday at FBC Thibodaux has three things running at once, and a first-time visitor can step into any of them. The schedule is the same every week.
At 9:30 AM, the nursery opens for children ages three and younger and runs until noon. The nursery ministry exists to empower parents to participate in the discipleship pathway at the church and, in turn, to disciple their own children. The room is staffed by a team of three leaders and is described as a friendly, uplifting environment in which parents can drop off their little ones and engage fully in worship and teaching.
At 9:30 AM, Sunday School begins for everyone else. The classes are divided by age: a PreK class, a Kindergarten-through-second-grade class, a third-through-fifth-grade class, a youth class, and two adult classes. The children's and nursery classes use curriculum from Truth 78. The youth and adult classes walk through books of the Bible verse by verse and use inductive Bible study methods. Class sizes are intentionally kept manageable so that students have room to know the people sitting around them. The Sunday School ministry is led by Tony Ledet, one of the church's elders, and the church makes printed inductive study guides for each book of the Bible it works through. Recent study guides have covered Exodus 1-10 and Acts 1-28.
At 10:45 AM, the Sunday morning worship service begins in the sanctuary with expository preaching and the worship team. The service is the heart of the week and the place where the preaching-through-books pattern is most visible.
Office hours during the week are Monday through Thursday, 8 AM to noon, and the phone number rings the same line. Visitors can ask about anything from the nursery schedule to where to park.
Wednesday Evenings: AWANA, Youth, and Prayer
Wednesday is the second anchor of the weekly rhythm. Three things run in parallel, beginning at 6:00 PM and wrapping up by 7:45 PM.
AWANA, the children's discipleship program, meets from 6:00 to 7:30 PM during the school year, following the local school calendar. AWANA's goal is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him. The church's AWANA program is led by Paulette Mayon, who grew up in Morgan City, was saved as a teenager at Youth Camp, attended Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, and came to FBC Thibodaux in 2013 after serving in AWANA at a sister Baptist church. She is an audit manager with a local CPA firm and serves as the AWANA Commander.
From 6:30 to 7:30 PM, the nursery is open for children ages three and younger so that parents can attend the adult activities.
At 6:30 PM, the prayer meeting gathers adults together, and at 6:45 PM, Basecamp, the youth ministry, holds its Wednesday night service. Basecamp's stated purpose is for students to know Christ, follow Christ, and share Christ. The ministry teaches and preaches verse by verse through the Scriptures, and the students are expected to devote themselves to the Word, time in prayer, commitment to the local church, and sharing the gospel with their friends. The Wednesday night format is one piece of a wider rhythm that includes Sunday School at 9:30 AM and small groups during the week.
Sunday School for Every Age
The Sunday School ministry at FBC Thibodaux is treated as one of the primary places where the Bible is taught. The Sunday School Leader is Tony Ledet, and his stated desire is to help equip teachers to study and teach in a way that brings glory to God and helps students learn how to study the Word through faithful exposition.
Children's classes use Truth 78 curriculum and walk through the Bible in an age-appropriate sequence. Youth and adult classes use inductive Bible study methods, working through books of the Bible verse by verse. The current adult classes are Adult I, taught by Luke Sedotal, and Adult II, taught by Jerry Rivet. Both classes are designed to help believers grow in the Christian walk by studying the Bible weekly and applying it to everyday life.
For anyone who cannot print the inductive study guides at home, the church's Sunday School resources page notes that copies can be requested, and printed guides are made available. The resources pages recommend a course on Acts from The Gospel Coalition alongside commentaries by R. Kent Hughes, John MacArthur, and Tony Merida.
Discipleship Groups for Men and Women
Two small-group ministries sit at the center of the church's discipleship pathway, and both are organized as D-Groups - intimate discipleship groups rather than large lecture-style studies.
The Women's D-Group exists to engage and train women through intimate discipleship groups. The stated areas of growth are biblical womanhood, doctrine, and how to study God's Word. The goal is to make disciples who make disciples, so that God is glorified. The ministry is led by Jody Snow, who grew up in a Catholic home in Thibodaux, came to faith in 2012, and now homeschools her three children. She has a passion for encouraging and equipping other women as they grow together in their walk with Christ. Beth Celestin, the lead pastor's wife, also serves as a women's D-Group leader.
The Men's D-Group follows the same structure for men. The stated purpose is to obey Jesus' command in Matthew 28:18-20 to make disciples, the way Paul charged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2. The motto of the men's ministry is Teaching Men to be Satisfied in Christ. Jerry Rivet, one of the elders and the Adult II Sunday School teacher, leads the men's discipleship groups.
Fellowship, Building and Grounds, and a Family-Focused Church
Two smaller ministries round out the practical life of the church. The Fellowship ministry is led by Carrie and Biff Bourgeois and exists to promote fellowship among FBC members and families and to build on church-family relationships. The Building and Grounds ministry maintains the buildings and grounds the church has been given and is led by Deacon Shawn Snow. Volunteers commit to one weekend a month of yard upkeep alongside another crew member, and church-wide work days are scheduled periodically throughout the year for larger projects.
The Family Focused core value is more than a line item. The church covenant spells out the expectation: husbands are to love and lead their wives and children sacrificially, wives are to submit to their husbands as the church is called to submit to Christ, and parents are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The recommended-resources page points readers toward family worship resources - a sermon series on family matters by Voddie Baucham, a simple guide to family worship from McLean Bible Church, William Boekestein's Family Worship 101, and an article on having family devotions from Bible.org - as well as marriage and family resources, books on spiritual growth, books on evangelism, and Sunday School materials.
The Preaching Team and Pastoral Leadership
The preaching team at FBC Thibodaux is small and consistent. Lead Pastor Kevin Celestin preaches most Sundays, with Elder Tony Ledet preaching several Sundays each year and Worship/Arts Minister Gerard Lavergne occasionally filling the pulpit as well. Guest preachers such as Tim Bray and Brian Williams have preached on selected Sundays in recent years.
Kevin Celestin was born and raised in St. Lucia in the Caribbean. He was raised Catholic and, at sixteen, explored Rastafarianism before surrendering his life to Jesus in the summer of 2000. He began attending Nicholls State University in 2001, was discipled there by campus minister Tim Lafleur, and met his wife Beth at Nicholls. They were married in 2006 and have four children: Silas, Liam, Ezra, and Gabriel. His passions are preaching, time with his family, golf, and reading.
Two elders shepherd the church alongside the pastor. Luke Sedotal was raised in Pierre Part, came to faith at a young age, attended Nicholls State University, was discipled through the Baptist Collegiate Ministries, and now teaches the Adult I Sunday School class and chairs the finance committee. He and his wife Sarah were married in 2009. Tony Ledet grew up in Pointe-Aux-Chenes, married his high school sweetheart Lauren in 2006, and has five children. He served as a youth minister at two other local churches before joining FBC Thibodaux as the Sunday School leader and elder. His desire is to see teachers equipped to study and teach the Word faithfully so that lives are changed by exposure to the beauty of Scripture.
Three deacons round out the lay leadership. Gerald (Jerry) Andre has been a member of FBC Thibodaux for thirty-five years and a deacon for twenty-two; he and his wife Barbara are members of the Fellowship team. Shawn Snow is originally from Alabama, is a veteran of the United States Army and a current deputy for the Thibodaux City Marshal's Office, and has been a member at FBC Thibodaux since 2018. He leads the Building and Grounds ministry. Huey Rivet serves as a deacon as well.
On the staff side, Gerard Lavergne is the Worship/Arts Minister. He grew up in southern Louisiana in a Catholic home, came to faith at fourteen, holds a Music Degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a concentration in Worship, and has been on staff at FBC Thibodaux for ten years. Sharl Champagne serves as administrative assistant and handles the office side of the week.
Sermons on the Podcast and the Page
Sermons are posted each week on the church's sermon page, and audio of each message can be downloaded directly. The library stretches back years. The church's archive shows over five hundred sermons in total.
The same sermons are available through the FBC Thibodaux Sermons podcast, which carries an audio feed for both Apple Podcasts and Google Play Music. The content is identical to what is preached on Sundays: verse-by-verse exposition of the text, doctrinal and practical application, and song that flows out of the same passage.
Prayer Requests, Giving, and Getting in Touch
The church keeps a prayer request page where anyone can submit a request, and the staff and members pray over those requests during the week. Giving can be done online through the Give page on the church's site, with several options for one-time and recurring gifts.
Anyone with questions or who does not know who to ask can fill out a general request form on the contact page. The office phone is 985-446-5611, the office hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 AM to noon, the address is 1021 Canal Blvd, Thibodaux, LA 70301, and direct contact information is available for the Lead Pastor and the Worship Leader.
A Reading List That Reflects the Church
The Recommended Resources page doubles as a kind of syllabus for the church's convictions. The Family Worship section points to Voddie Baucham's three-part sermon series on the family and articles on family devotion by William Boekestein, John Piper, and the staff at Bible.org. The Marriage and Family, Spiritual Growth, and Evangelism sections are filled with books from evangelical authors that line up with the church's expository and discipleship-driven emphasis. The Sunday School section provides The Gospel Coalition's introduction courses on Exodus and Acts alongside MacArthur, Hughes, and Merida commentaries on Acts.
The blog pages of the church extend those values in writing. Past pieces include a study of fasting as a spiritual discipline, reflections on what God was doing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and personal essays on being a husband and father, a wife and mother, and a youth and youth parent through that same season. The throughline in all of them is the same as the throughline in the preaching: a Bible-saturated community that wants to be faithful to the text and to one another in the place God has put them.
What First-Time Visitors Should Know
A few practical details are worth knowing before arriving. The sanctuary sits on Canal Blvd, and the easiest place to park is the Regions Bank lot next door; street parking along Canal is also an option. Handicap parking is reserved in front of the sanctuary on Canal Blvd. The morning starts at 9:30 AM with Sunday School and the nursery and continues at 10:45 AM with the worship service; the building is open through noon for families who want to linger.
The style of worship is contemporary, led by a full worship team, and the song list runs from the newest worship songs to hymns written in the nineteenth century. The preaching is expository, walking through books of the Bible verse by verse. Children from birth through fifth grade have classes designed for them, including a PreK class, a Kindergarten-through-second-grade class, and a third-through-fifth-grade class, all using Truth 78 curriculum. Youth have their own Sunday School class and a Wednesday night youth service called Basecamp.
The congregation is multigenerational, the language is English, and the building is laid out for Bible teaching, prayer, fellowship, and the ordinances of believer's baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper.