Bible Missionary pastor focused on old fashioned worship
Gerald H. Ingram
Special to the USA Today Network Louisiana
The Rev. Ben Lauritzen, pastor of the Bible Missionary Church of Monroe, felt the call to serve at the early age of 8 years old.
"But I fought it and tried my best to ignore it," he said. "Even though my father was a minister and both of my parents were missionaries and I was raised in the church, I had a bit of youthful rebellion in me and wanted to do something else with my life,"
From a family of eight children, Lauritzen spent the better part of his youth, from age 2 until 12 overseas, wherever his parents were serving.
"They would come back to the states every two years on furlough," he said.
Lauritzen noted the places his parents served were in a peaceful part of the world where the residents were not hostile to Christians.
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"In fact, my parents are still serving as missionaries," he said.
At age 12, Lauritzen returned to the states, which gave him an opportunity to spend his teenage years here and get himself acclimated to life in the United States. At about 18 and near graduation from high school, he again heard the call and this time it couldn't be denied.
"I graduated from high school in May and began studying for the ministry in the fall," he said.
Lauritzen explained that he comes from a long line of worship leaders.
"My mother's family had several missionaries over the years, while my father's family served the church as lay people," he said.
Lauritzen's church, the Bible Missionary Church of Monroe, is on Finks Hideaway Road, adjacent to the fire station, which makes it easy to find. He said the church is on one side of the fire station and the parsonage on the other.
"We are a Bible-centered preaching, old fashioned worship, emphasis on holy living, friendly family church," he said. "Since we are an old-fashioned worship, the hymns we sing are the standards. "The Old Rugged Cross," "Amazing Grace" and "Great is your Faithfulness" are examples.
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"We also have some very talented young people that play violins and have put together an orchestra," Lauritzen said.
He said the control board for the music and lights is within the first few pews so that person can work that and worship along with the congregation.
Lauritzen has been with the church for about 10 months.
"I appreciate the opportunity to carry on the works and traditions of those who have come before me," he said. "And our charge is to build on the rich spiritual history, spanning almost 53 years, of ministering to the people. That has always been the focus of this church and it will continue in the future."
He and his wife of six years, Kayla, have a 1-year-old son, Micah.
"My role, in addition to being a mother to Micah, is to support Ben in all that he does for the church, the members and the community," Kayla Lauritzen said. "I'm willing to do anything needed, but Ben speaks from the pulpit."
"I entertain families; almost every church member ends up at the house to eat or visit at one time or another. I go visiting with Ben, and also do the graphics and church design inside the church. We have several teachers to rotate with the children's bible class," she said.
She said they also go out to visit church members that are not physically able to come to a worship service.
"We are a very personal church and very hands-on, even in this the internet age," she said. "We are also very active in the neighborhood and the community."
The Bible Missionary Church has a weekly Children's Bible Club from ages four on up each at 6:30 p.m Thursday night and snacks are provided.
"The parents are welcome to attend but we think that gives parents an opportunity to go out for an hour and eat dinner alone and have some adult time," he said.
"My wife grew up in a very similar background, so we are raising Micah to be a part of as many of the family activities as possible," Lauritzen said. "We read and study a lot of books together and we always take time for family devotions.