Our Story

Cypress Grove Worship Fellowship was planted in March 2014 by Pastor Leonard Struck, his wife Mary, and seven other families who wanted a small parish church close to home.

Our first service was held in the Struck family barn on Roguski Road, with thirty-one folding chairs borrowed from the Cheneyville VFW and a guitar that was missing one string. We sang “Come Thou Fount,” read from the Sermon on the Mount, ate a shared lunch of jambalaya, and went home. We have done some version of that, week after week, ever since.

What we believe

We are a non-denominational Christian fellowship in the historic Protestant tradition. We hold to the ancient creeds of the Church — the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed — and we read the Bible as the inspired, sufficient, and life-giving word of God. We baptize believers, we share communion every Sunday, and we believe that the gospel is good news for ordinary people in ordinary places.

What that looks like on a Sunday

• A short call to worship from the Psalms.
• Three or four hymns, almost always from the 1933 Christian Worship Hymnal or the modern Sing! collection.
• A scripture reading — currently working through the Gospel of Luke.
• A 25–30 minute sermon by Pastor Leonard or one of our two lay teachers.
• Communion served at the rail, open to all who follow Christ.
• A shared lunch on the lawn, weather permitting.

Who we are

About 140 people consider Cypress Grove their home church, though attendance on a given Sunday hovers between 80 and 110 depending on the rice harvest, the high-school football schedule, and the weather. Our members include rice farmers, school teachers, a retired veterinarian, a few nurses from Bunkie General, two volunteer firefighters, several college students from LSU-A, and a growing number of young families.

Our pastor

Leonard Struck grew up in Pineville, Louisiana, studied agriculture at LSU before sensing a call to ministry, and finished his Master of Divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2009. He served as a youth pastor in Alexandria for four years before planting Cypress Grove with Mary in 2014. He is a slow preacher, a patient counselor, and an enthusiastic — if not especially talented — gardener.

Where we’re going

We are not interested in growth for its own sake. We are interested in faithfulness — in being the kind of church that, fifty years from now, our great-grandchildren can walk into and recognize as home. We are saving slowly toward a small library and counseling room on the back of the property, and we partner with two local food pantries, a prison ministry in Cottonport, and a missionary family serving in rural Honduras.