Pastor Bill Shanks

Bill Shanks was born in New Orleans and raised in the Catholic Church. At the age of 28, he realized that he had been pulling further away from God and was lukewarm in his faith. Shortly after, Bill had an encounter with Jesus that changed the course of his life forever. He attended a Pentecostal Church and became a born again Christian (John 3:3) , fully surrendering his life to Christ. Several years later, he began a Bible study in a friend’s home which grew into his first church. In the year 1978, he started Open Door Fellowship with Bob Stone in New Orleans, La. 

After seeing a video titled ‘The Silent Scream’, Pastor Bill was led by God to get involved in the Pro-Life movement. In 1980, he began standing outside of abortion clinics offering help and preaching the gospel to the ladies who were about to kill their babies. He was soon invited by Rod Aguillard to an Operation Rescue event in Atlanta which started him on a nationwide plight to end abortion. Pastor Bill Shanks remained faithful in preaching outside abortion clinics locally and nationwide until abortion was outlawed in Louisiana in 2022. Throughout that time, he was able to witness God shut down 9 out of 10 abortion clinics here in Louisiana and the final one was closed in the overturning of Roe V Wade.

 Pastor Bill Shanks started a radio talk show called ‘Storming the Gates’ in which he challenged the churches not to be apathetic towards the forces of evil in our education system, the media and government. Storming the Gates aired for five years and during that time, he encouraged the body of Christ to take a stand against the corruption in these areas. 

    At the collapsing of the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union in the year 1991, God opened a door for the church to go to Russia. Pastor Bill Shanks made several trips to Russia with a team of other believers bringing the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and planting churches there. He was a part of starting ten churches in Russia and witnessed thousands of people come to the Lord.

    In the year 1986, Bill and Mary Catherine Shanks started New Covenant Fellowship.  Bill Shanks is the current pastor and is also a chaplain for the Jefferson Parish Police Department.