Thibodaux church finds its place after 10-year expansion

A 10-year vision, a number of dedicated worshippers and an abundance of prayer are the key components why Thibodaux Family Church exists today.

The church will be celebrating its grand opening on Jan. 22-24. For the three-night celebration, Rev. Duane Bland said each night has a different speaker.

The guest speakers include: Friday, Jan. 22, Lee Lamury from Word of Life Family Church in Patterson; Saturday, Jan. 23, Andrew Shearman from G42 Ministries in Fountain Hills, Arizona and Sunday, Jan. 24, Bland and Mike Millé from White Dove Church in New Orleans.

Friday and Saturday service starts at 7 p.m. Sunday’s services will be held at 9 a.m. and again at 6 p.m.

The history behind Thibodaux Family Church, a non-denominational ministry, is surely a story worth telling. It took Bland and his church family 10 years to build a temple of worship. Now that the church sits on a premiere piece of real estate in Thibodaux, they can relish how they got there.

God’s presence is where we are

Bland was the senior pastor for Word of Life Church in Chauvin for 10 years before moving the ministry to Thibodaux. He said he always felt that the Lord would give him the opportunity to move to Thibodaux to share the Word.

“My other pastors always encouraged me to move my ministry to Thibodaux. The majority of our worshippers lived in either Houma or Thibodaux, ” he said. “But, until the Lord had given me the opportunity, I wasn’t going to make a move just yet.”

And, the Lord spoke. In March 1999, Thibodaux Family Church started with six people engaging in a weekly bible study class. Bland said it was he and his wife Rachel, along with Thibodaux residents Mark and Jessie Kern of Word of Life Family Church in Patterson.

Soon, Bland’s brother Craig and his wife Lisa joined the bible study group. Then more people begin to give life to the Lord and make a commitment to serve God.

It was that time frame that Bland said he felt the Lord had confirmed his opportunity to come to Thibodaux.

“We sought out the spiritual leaders and the city leaders of Thibodaux that we felt the Lord had told us to meet,” he said. “We wanted their blessings as well as taking the opportunity to introduce ourselves. We had a great response within the city and the community.”

Bland began to announce the opening of Thibodaux Family Church in October 1999. The group held its first service at the Howard Johnson Hotel.

“That was the beginning,” he said. “We had a good working relationship with the people at the Howard Johnson.”

The only problem or the concern was space constraints. Thibodaux Family Church did not have enough room to expand its children and teen ministries.

But in 2001, the City of Thibodaux reached out to the church and allowed them to use the city’s recreational department building at Peltier Park for Sunday service.

“We developed that relationship and stayed there for eight years,” Bland said.

To show his appreciation, Bland presented the Thibodaux Mayor Charles Caillouet and city council with a resolution for all their support over the years.

The Foundation of Our Temple

Thibodaux Family Church owns the property and the church building, without incurring any debt. The whole project cost nearly $2 million.

Bland said with the property and building its valued at more than $3 million.

“We believed that God would provide for us and He did. Everything in the building is paid for,” Bland said. “One of our greatest testimony is the first times we stood before a small group of 30 people and showed them the rendering of the facility. We told them that if we all believe in God and work together as a team, God would provide what we need to build this facility.”

There was never a sense of pressure on the people. Bland felt that the Lord gave him a word for the people about “giving” and he presented it. On occasion he would remind the congregation of their mission and update with the building’s progress.

The entire process took 10 years. Bland said five of those years were the building phase.

During the whole tenure at the Howard Johnson Hotel and Peltier Park, Bland and his flock worked to build their own church.

“We were in faith that we could purchase a piece of property that was in a nice area of the community,” Bland said.

Shortly before their first church service in 1999, J.B. Levert Land Company presented Bland with an opportunity to buy the 10-acre property on North Canal Boulevard. Church contributions paid for the first 5 acres of land in no time.

Levert Land Company offered Bland a lease on the other 5 acres with an option to purchase in five years, which they have done.

The design phase of the church began right after the first 5 acres were purchased. Thibodaux’s Gossen, Gasaway & Holloway provided the designs for the building.

“Lead architect David Gaubert helped with the design and getting us through the bidding phase,” Bland said. “The whole firm was a huge blessing for us.”

When the building process began, Bland did things backwards and constructed the parking area first.

He said he wanted his parishioners to be able to drive up and see the progress of the building.

Ironically, concreting the parking area turned out to be an asset to both church and the City of Thibodaux. During hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, the church’s parking lot served as a distribution site for many of the disaster recovery agencies.

Thibodaux Family Church at its North Canal Boulevard location held its first service on Sept. 27, 2009. The following weekend, Bland and his wife celebrated their 25th anniversary. Four days later was the church’s 10th ministry anniversary.

“We were able to celebrate all our milestone’s right here in this building,” Bland said. “It was really neat how the Lord set it all of this up. No one person could not have planned it any better.”

The church can seat up to 500 people. During service, parents can leave their children in their respective classroom. There are also ministry rooms for infants, toddlers and children aged 12 and under and teenagers.

Reaching the bigger picture

Even without a church to call home, Bland started a television ministry about seven years ago on Houma Television10. The church started with commercials to promote their ministry.

Then, station owner Martin Folse opened the door for him to host a television program. Bland’s Christian message now runs 11 times a week HTV10.

“We knew we wanted to do something like that but didn’t know the avenues to take. Then, Martin helps us along.”

Bland takes a subject from his pulpit, with his deliver, and expands on it for television.

Seven year after his first telecasts, he said television has given the church more creditability and recognition. He said now he can see the church without television as a tool to reach people.

“We’ve always felt that the Lord speaks to you,” he said. “It’s like you can see through a glass and see your whole life. You are kind of like is it really true? But for us, when we look out that window by faith the door opens, and we have a decision to make. Do you want to walk into your dream or do you want to wait to another season?

“I’ve just been in a situation where it’s like I don’t know if this door will open up for me again without me having to push it open. When it swings open it’s a lot easier. But when I have to push it open, it’s a lot harder. So when the television door just swung open for us, it was easier to walk into it.”

In the near future, Bland hopes to install cameras in the church in order to broadcast directly from church.

“It’s a great asset. Nothing else has been more responsive for us to gain members and viewers,” the minister said. “I understand I am trying to convince someone to think differently.”

We’ve come this far by faith

Now that the building is in place, Bland has a place to work out of. He calls it his barn. It’s a direct representation of being a sheep in God’s pasture.

First Lady Rachel Bland said the extended time period taught the congregation and the community a little lesson in patience and long suffering. She said by staying focused any dream will come to pass.

“God doesn’t make mistakes,” she said. “We finished the building at the appropriate time. If we had finished it sooner, we may have had a lot more issues to work out. Staying on the even kill, kept everything good stable.”

It’s a dream come true for Rachel Bland. She taught school for the Lafourche Parish School System for 22 years, but retired early to be the first employee on staff at Thibodaux Family Church.

“At the beginning stages of the church construction I was not a part of it. But then Duane needed more help, and he wanted me to be the first person to join on the staff. It’s a blessing that I get to work with my husband everyday, and I am excited about what the Lord has done in our lives.”

Thinking back, the church started with six faithful members. Over the course of 8 years the church grew to about 225 people. Bland said the 10 years gave the congregation a chance to develop a sound relationship.

He said he has a core of people that understood the dreams and the vision of the church. It sets us in a position to have momentum carriers, he said.

“While the building was being constructed, we were able to build people,” Bland said. “I have a rock solid core of people. When we had the first church service in the building, we didn’t open up with six people, it was close to 400 people.”

Duane Bland, minister of Thibodaux Family Church, leads his congregation in prayer during Sunday’s service. The church will have its official grand opening on Jan. 23-24. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN