What Louisiana Really Needs

By Shawn Wilson, Editor of The Bayou Insider

I have been thinking about this a lot lately.

What is wrong with Louisiana? Why can’t our elected officials do the right thing? Why do we repeatedly encounter the same issues in our state over and over again?

Corruption. Compromise. Cronyism.

We talk about these things all the time in Louisiana—because they’re real. They’re part of the cultural and political rot that’s plagued our state for generations. Whether it’s backroom deals, special interest influence, or elected officials selling out the people who trusted them, the same stories play out year after year. The names and faces may change, but the pattern remains.

And the frustration grows.

Some blame the “good ole boy” system. Others point to big business, oil money, or political cowardice. And while those things are very real and very damaging, they are not the root.

They are fruit. Rotten fruit from a rotten tree.

The real problem is spiritual.

Louisiana doesn’t just have a political crisis—it has a spiritual one. Our people and our leaders have placed their trust in the wrong place. Instead of looking to the Lord, they look to Washington, D.C. They look to federal bailouts, national headlines, political parties, and the next election cycle to fix what only God can heal.

But DC can’t save us. It never could.

No amount of legislation will redeem a state if its soul is sick. No policy will purify a heart. No industry will transform a culture. What we’re facing isn’t something that can be solved in a committee hearing or with a new governor, even a good one. It’s something that can only be addressed on our knees.

Voting won’t change things until hearts change.

What Louisiana needs isn’t another wave of politicians promising to clean house. We’ve heard that before. What we need is a wave of conviction and repentance.

• We don’t need better legislation—we need bended knees.

• We don’t need stronger leaders—we need stronger prayers.

• We don’t need more industry—we need broken hearts.

• We don’t need new laws—we need God’s law.

• We don’t need DC—we need JC.

This isn’t a call to abandon civic responsibility. We should vote, run for office, speak truth to power, and be involved in shaping our future. But we must never confuse the tools of democracy with the hope of salvation.

The hope of Louisiana has always been found in Jesus Christ—not in politics. We’ve forgotten that.

We need revival.

Not the emotional kind that flares up for a weekend and dies off by Monday. We need the kind that begins with deep repentance, changes how we live, and spills out into every part of our society.

• A revival that starts in our churches and spreads to our courthouses.

• A revival that reaches politicians, lobbyists, media voices, and citizens alike.

• A revival that dethrones idols—whether power, money, race, or party—and exalts the true King.

• A revival that doesn’t just make Louisiana better—but makes it holy.

Louisiana needs to bend the knee to the King of Kings.

We need pulpits on fire with the truth.

We need fathers who lead their homes in righteousness.

We need mothers raising warriors in prayer.

We need young people who hunger more for God’s Word than for viral fame.

We need men and women who will say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Only then will corruption fall. Only then will darkness lose its grip. Only then will light shine through the cracks of our broken system.

Because when hearts are turned to Christ, everything changes.

We’ve tried man’s way long enough. It’s time to return to God’s.

Lord, let revival begin—not in the Capitol, not in the courts—but in our hearts. Let it begin with me. Let it begin with us.