First Baptist Church of Shreveport

First Baptist Church of Shreveport

First Baptist Church of Shreveport traces its roots to 1845, making it one of the oldest continuously operating institutions in northwest Louisiana. Senior Pastor Dr. Jeff Raines serves as the lead spiritual and administrative officer, while the church maintains affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. The congregation's wealth originates from nearly two centuries of member tithes, bequests, and capital campaigns — most visibly the construction of the First Baptist Church School campus under former Head of School Dr. James Gillespie. The church's investment posture is concentrated in real assets tied directly to its mission. Its portfolio includes the main worship campus at 543 Ockley Drive, the adjacent First Baptist Church School at 533 Ockley Drive, and the FBCS Sports Complex on undeveloped land in Shreveport. A separately stewarded endowment — the First Baptist Church of Shreveport Agency Endowment Fund — sits alongside a parallel foundation structure, both of which may hold financial assets distinct from the real property. The school maintains membership in the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, signaling operational integration with local business networks. While total AUM and professional investment staff remain undisclosed, the church's scale reflects a midsize institutional asset owner embedded in a regional southern city. The school campus and sports complex represent multi-million-dollar capital deployments, and the dual endowment-foundation structure suggests a layered governance model common among legacy churches with intergenerational giving programs. No external fund commitments, direct co-investments, or venture allocations have been publicly documented. Structurally, First Baptist Church of Shreveport operates as a congregational endowment rather than a centralized family office or foundation, meaning investment authority likely rests with a board of trustees or finance committee appointed from within the church membership — a governance model typical of Southern Baptist polity but opaque to outside allocators. The co-location of church, school, and endowment on a single Ockley Drive corridor creates a mission-aligned real estate cluster unusual for a congregation of this scale.