Vice President Mike Pence will visit St. Landry Parish on Friday to offer support to the three historically black Baptist churches destroyed by an arsonist in late March and early April, a White House official confirmed.

The vice president will tour the remains of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and meet with the Rev. Gerald Toussaint and other community leaders to offer his support, the official said. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser also confirmed he and U.S. Rep Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, would attend with other officials, per a tweet from his staff.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is also slated to attend, his communications director Ty Bofferding confirmed. Cassidy said he appreciated Pence’s gesture and plans to work with community leaders to “continue the healing process and support those affected by this tragedy.”

Mount Pleasant was the third church ravaged in the string of arsons. The three churches — St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas — were destroyed in a 10-day span between March 26 and April 4.

Toussaint said he, the Revs. Harry Richard and Kyle Sylvester of the other destroyed churches, and the Rev. Freddie Jack, president of the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association, will be among those gathering Friday.

Toussaint said he’s appreciative to have the support of the federal government and hopes something positive can develop from the vice president’s visit. He said he’s concerned by violence happening across the country, specifically referencing the burning of his church and gun violence on school campuses.

He said the acts aren’t by chance and the flow of hatred in the country needs to be stopped.

“We need to take a different look at stuff in our country,” Toussaint said. “We can’t go on continuing to play a blame game or continue to have this civil war of Democrats against Republicans, when the same things keep happening.”

He said the Scripture calls for men to humble themselves and practice both self-love and love of your neighbor. Starting small, like building unity after the church fires, is a good place to start, Toussaint said.

“For stuff to grow you have to start at the bottom. You don’t throw a seed in the air for it to grow, you put it in the ground. You have to plant a good seed,” he said.

Toussaint said the St. Landry community began planting good seeds at an interreligious service held Tuesday evening at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas. Several Christian congregations, including local Catholics, Baptists, and Episcopalians, gathered to fellowship with one another and foster togetherness.

“Everybody left hugging one another,” he said.

The Rev. Harry Richard, of Greater Union Baptist Church, said he isn’t sure what to expect from Pence’s visit, but he’s grateful the vice president is taking the time to show care to the churches and their congregations, especially given his other responsibilities.

“Just showing up is good enough for me,” he said. “It makes me feel like the country is closer than it may seem sometimes with all that’s happening.”

Higgins said his office was closely involved in the planning of Pence’s trip.

"The security nature of a visit from the vice president is quite extensive, but I can tell you there has been talk about such a visit and that my office has been involved from the beginning to help coordinate it," Higgins said in an emailed statement. "The White House asked us to help."

Holden Matthews, the 21-year-old son of a local sheriff’s deputy, was arrested in the church burnings and charged with aggravated arson, two counts of simple arson and three hate crime counts. Matthews was denied bond April 15.

Judge James Doherty said Matthews is considered a continued risk to the community due to the evidence against him and the seriousness of the charges.

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Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning testified at Matthews’ bond hearing that physical evidence at the scene, photos and videos taken from Matthews’ cell phone, and cell tower records connected Matthews to the crimes.

Area surveillance video also captured footage of a pickup truck matching the characteristics of a truck owned by Matthews’ father, Deputy Roy Matthews, in the area of each of the three fires, Browning said.

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Advocate Washington correspondent Elizabeth Crisp contributed to this report.