SLS 183ES-11 ORIGINAL
2018 Third Extraordinary Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 6
BY SENATOR MILKOVICH
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Dr. Fred Lowery, retired pastor of First Baptist Church
of Bossier City, Louisiana, and his wife, Leigh, on their dedication and faith, focusing
especially on their longtime marriage and on his more than 50 years of preaching God's
word.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend Dr. Fred Lowery, retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Bossier City,
3 Louisiana, and his wife, Leigh, upon the example the two have lived in accordance
4 with the principles of a covenant marriage, through their faith and their love for each
5 other and their God, and on his more than fifty years of preaching God's word.
6 WHEREAS, Fred Lynn Lowery was born March 16, 1943, to Fred L. and Esther
7 Burkhalter Lowery, the second of four children, and the family resided in Montevallo,
8 Alabama, in Shelby County; and
9 WHEREAS, early in his life, Fred Lowery dreamed of being an airline pilot, but his
10 call to the ministry set him on an entirely different course; and
11 WHEREAS, in 1960 at the tender age of seventeen, he was called as the pastor of
12 Bethel Baptist Church in Aiken, South Carolina; and
13 WHEREAS, Fred Lowery received his bachelor of art's degree from Samford
14 University, in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, earned a Master of Theology in 1969 from
15 Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas, and his Doctor of Ministry
16 from Luther Rice University, which, at the time of his graduation, was located in
17 Jacksonville, Florida; and
18 WHEREAS, after his studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr.
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SLS 183ES-11 ORIGINAL
1 Lowery served at that institution of learning for two years as a teaching fellow in
2 evangelism; and
3 WHEREAS, in 1971 while a student at the University of Mississippi in Oxford,
4 Mississippi, Lisabeth Leigh Jones attended a revival at the Baptist church because there was
5 going to be a young singer there whose tapes would be available, and Leigh met both the
6 Lord and her future husband, Fred Lowery, that night; and
7 WHEREAS, Leigh Lowery also says that she and her father were both saved that
8 night as the evangelist preached on how to be happy and to stay married in this world of
9 secular focus, and Leigh and Fred Lowery have put those skills to good use in their
10 forty-four year marriage, which began on June 2, 1974; and
11 WHEREAS, early in their marriage, the Lowerys vowed to have a date night every
12 week, and the couple has continued that practice throughout most of their married years; and
13 WHEREAS, the couple treasured the years of raising their two daughters, Christy
14 Camille and Shelby Lynn, and now enjoy their grandchildren and treasure all chances to be
15 with their extended family; and
16 WHEREAS, in 1983 after pastoring and preaching in several churches, Reverend
17 Fred Lowery was called to bring his wife and family and his considerable talents, especially
18 in preaching and evangelism, to serve as pastor of First Baptist Church of Bossier City where
19 he would spend the next thirty years; and
20 WHEREAS, shortly after the Lowerys' arrival in 1984, a fire erupted in the baptistry
21 and the following two years involved both pastoring the congregation and rebuilding the
22 damaged area, which was completed in 1986; and
23 WHEREAS, since that devastating event in 1984, First Baptist has added a worship
24 center with twenty-five hundred seats, remodeled every building on the original campus,
25 purchased additional land, and added a state-of-the-art preschool building named "Tiny
26 Town"; and
27 WHEREAS, over those years, Reverend Fred Lowery employed his spiritual
28 leadership and faith to preach the word of God to a congregation that numbered more than
29 seven thousand Christians at the time he retired on January 1, 2014, after a career of more
30 than fifty-three years of preaching and religious study; and
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1 WHEREAS, Leigh Lowery eased the pressures of being a mother and a pastor's wife
2 by building friendships with other women, and, at First Baptist, her once-a-week 5:00 a.m.
3 group of ladies led to a women's ministry seminar, which, at its height, attracted more than
4 two thousand participants annually; and
5 WHEREAS, Dr. Lowery is widely known for his fresh insight as he communicates
6 the truth of Christianity in many practical ways, and his sermons tend to focus on the themes
7 of faith, family, and friends; and
8 WHEREAS, during his career, Reverend Lowery served as president of the Louisiana
9 Baptist Convention, the Southern Baptist Convention's pastors' conference, as vice president
10 of the Southern Baptist Convention, and as a trustee of both Louisiana College and the New
11 Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and
12 WHEREAS, Dr. Lowery reached beyond his church congregation and through his
13 televised series, First Word, which began airing on a local television station in June, 1983,
14 and is now carried by Direct TV service, has been estimated to be seen in more than fifteen
15 million homes each week; and
16 WHEREAS, Reverend Fred Lowery is a gifted author, and his first book was
17 published in 2002 and entitled Covenant Marriage: Staying Together for Life, which has
18 been followed by additional titles, all dealing with the day-to-day commitment of being a
19 Christian and living the word of God in a modern society that presents a distinct challenge
20 of living a religious life each day; and
21 WHEREAS, from that lovely June day in 1974 when Fred and Leigh Lowery pledged
22 their lives to each other and to God, they have lived the principles and suggestions contained
23 in much of what Dr. Lowery has written, especially his writings on a covenant marriage,
24 making his message all the more powerful as he and Leigh and their life together are a
25 testament to those principles of marriage contained in his writings; and
26 WHEREAS, since his first call to preach and pastor a church in 1960 through his
27 retirement in 2014 and his subsequent assignments as guest preacher, Reverend Fred Lynn
28 Lowery, with the support and assistance of wife Leigh, has more than fulfilled his promise
29 to preach the gospel by growing the First Baptist Church of Bossier City to an institution that
30 includes more than seven thousand members, providing guidance that brought about the
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1 establishment of a preschool associated with the church, reaching an audience far beyond
2 his pastorate through his television ministry, and writing books to inspire Christians to live
3 their beliefs every day, all exceptional accomplishments for a single lifetime.
4 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
5 does hereby commend Dr. Fred Lowery, retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Bossier
6 City, Louisiana, and his wife, Leigh, upon the example the two have provided living together
7 in accordance with the principles of a covenant marriage, through their faith and their love
8 for each other and their God and on his more than fifty years of preaching God's word.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
10 Dr. Fred and Mrs. Leigh Lowery.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Mary Dozier O'Brien.
DIGEST
SR 6 Original 2018 Third Extraordinary Session Milkovich
Commends Dr. Fred Lowery, retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Bossier City,
Louisiana, and his wife, Leigh, upon the example the two have provided, living in
accordance with the principles of a covenant marriage, through their faith and their love for
each other and their God and on his more than 50 years of preaching God's word.
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