John McCusker is a photographer for the Times-Picayune whose great shots have long been a special feature of the paper. When I was pastoring at Kenner, he sometimes took our photos for articles and interviews. Tuesday, he tried to commit “suicide by cop.”

Reports indicate he was depressed over his insurance check being insufficient to rebuild his flooded house in East New Orleans. In that deep funk, he tore out down Napoleon Avenue in his SUV, driving erratically and side-swiping several vehicles, which attracted the police to him. As they approached with guns drawn, he called, “Just kill me. Get it over with,” and threw the gear into reverse, pinning an officer between his SUV and the cruiser. To the credit of the police, they did not fire their weapons but immobilized him with a taser. He’s being held for psychiatric examination. Police were uncertain what charges would be filed.

At our Wednesday pastors meeting at Metairie’s Good Shepherd Spanish Baptist Church, NAMB Counselor Joe Williams spoke to the depression and fatigue McCusker and others are experiencing. We need to talk about how we are feeling, he said, before emotions become so overwhelming we’re ready to explode. Joe is working up a program for helping pastors assist their congregations with these scary feelings.

Steve Gahagan (Operation NOAH Rebuild) introduced Tim Agee who has come as his assistant. Tim and his wife are from a small Alabama town. “We’re here for the duration,” he said. (I wonder if he knows what he’s saying!) Tim meets with homeowners to assess their situations, then coordinates volunteers coming to work on those houses. Gahagan asked our pastors to please let him know anything they find out about what’s going to happen in their respective parishes after August 29, the deadline some have established for houses to be worked on or face demolition.

Alberto Rivera (Regional strategist for the LBC) introduced his wife Romy to the group of 50 attending Wednesday’s meeting. Last week he spoke to mission specialists across America about our situation. “They are praying for us,” he said. He looked at me and said, “Brother Joe, they are praying for you.” Thank you.

“We have a great opportunity to plant churches in this area,” Alberto said. For those churches interested or involved in church planting, “We are offering a conference called ‘Acts One 8–Partners in Church Planting Network Connection’ at Tall Timbers Conference Center on August 28-29.”

Dennis Watson (Celebration Church) invites pastors and wives to a luncheon at which Josh McDowell will speak. Monday, August 21, at 11:30 am, at Celebration. Seated is limited to senior pastors and spouses since only 200 can be accommodated. Dennis introduced David Jochum who has come to be their minister of education from a Texas church where he was serving. As God put it on David’s heart to come home to help our people (he’s from Chalmette and Dennis used to be his pastor), his Texas pastor felt the same pulling. The congregation has voted to pay his salary for the next two years as he labors among us.

Fred Luter (Franklin Avenue) meets his church members everywhere he goes across this country. He’s been so busy representing our needs to various church groups across America, this was his first Wednesday pastors meeting. “We are now worshiping at FBC-New Orleans. One of my staff members is taking the 650 members in Houston and beginning a new congregation there. Pray for our rebuilding.”

Freddie Arnold (our staff) reminded pastors that grants are available from the Salvation Army, and will cover building materials, not labor. Since so many of our local members have been blessed by the yellow-capped Disaster Relief workers in the months since Katrina, we’re going to hold a day of training for our own people to become DR volunteers. Saturday, August 19, at the associational building, from 9 to 3:30 pm. At the end of the day, each person will receive the uniform–a yellow tee shirt and a yellow cap.

Host pastor Gonzalo Rodriguez welcomed everyone to Good Shepherd (El Buen). He started this church 26 years ago with 5 members. These days, they have 3 services each Sunday with 500 in attendance. They are in the process of buying several homes next to their property. A good thing since they are smack in the middle of a residential area with precious little parking.

We had a number of guests today, including Steve and Ann Corbin’s son Ryan and his fiance Lisa. Ben and J.D. (they have last names, but I don’t have them) were introduced by Kevin Lee. They’re creating a disaster relief ministry in their church and will be coming to help us regularly. Kevin (Edgewater) says, “We have electricity! And by the end of the day, we should have air conditioning!” For a congregation that has been meeting in a tent on the parking lot and running a hundred or more, this is welcome news.

Lynn Rodrigue (Port Sulphur) is getting a real mobile home. “A double wide,” he beamed. He and Nicole and their family have been living in that tiny FEMA trailer. “When the Apostle Paul said ‘I have learned to be content in whatever state I find myself,'” Lynn said, “he obviously did not have four small children!”

Port Sulphur continues to operate their distribution center, the only one that we know of in metro New Orleans these days. The condition downriver is still so critical, the houses all destroyed, that the restoration there is creeping along at a snail’s pace. “FEMA showed up with two 18-wheelers filled with canned goods for us to distribute. We didn’t have anyone to unload them, so they’re still sitting there in the trailers. The front is slowly sinking into the soft ground. Second Harvest sent us 9,000 frozen chickens yesterday; they’ll be given out today. We’re open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They will be providing us with 400,000 pounds of food until January of next year.” He said, “It’s a slow recovery process, but it’s looking good. People are coming back. Habitat for Humanity wants to set up a chapter in Port Sulphur. We have about 8 to 10 volunteers from all denominations who help us; we’ve built some great relationships with them. Three-fourths of the people worshiping with us on Sundays are not Baptists. This is almost like starting a church plant. People are coming from a 60 mile radius.”

John Jeffries (FBC Chalmette) reported that his congregation and several others are still worshiping at the Chalmette high school, and plan to indefinitely. “Our sanctuary is sitting there just like it was,” he said. “That doesn’t mean nothing is happening. We just need everyone’s prayers. We need encouragement.”

Keith Manuel (Calvary) encouraged pastors to send incoming volunteers with RVs to use his church’s RV park. “My church is even picking up the utilities on the spaces,” he said, “and we’ll continue until the church can’t afford it any longer.” Just call his church secretary to schedule a space.

At the end of the meeting, we spoke of hurricane preparedness for our congregations. Each week we distribute the updated list of our pastors and all their contact information, including e-mail addresses. In case of another evacuation, we intend to stay connected. Dennis Watson reported that last June, they presented their members with a hurricane preparedness plan. Churches in Lafayette, Pineville, and somewhere–Monroe?–will shelter the Celebration members in case of an evacuation. Members are being organized and plans made to make sure no person without transportation is forgotten. “We’ll be glad to send you a copy of our preparedness plan,” he said. Just call his church office.

Mark Joslin (New Vision) told the group how pleased he and Alicia and their congregation are to be a part of this active fellowship. He led the prayer before we went into the fellowship hall for lunch.

I need to say a word about the meal. All the time we met at FBC LaPlace and Oak Park, they did terrific meals for us. Po-boys, barbecue, spaghetti. But now, we are in a Spanish Baptist church. It’s something else. Being a gringo from the farm in Alabama, my idea of exotic food has always been my mama’s fried apple pies or my dad’s banana pudding. But this is incredible. Great, hearty food with that…what shall we say…South of the Border touch. I want someone to call David Crosby at FBC-NO and tell him what he’s missing. He was the first to rave when Gonzalo Rodriguez invited the pastors to meet with Good Shepherd. “I want some of that good Spanish food!” Well, we’ve had it but David has missed it. (I think we’ve figured out why Gonzalo is full-figured. He’s been eating well.)

Driving in from North Mississippi Tuesday evening, I heard a former New Orleans resident calling a local talk show. “I’m tired of waiting,” he said. “I’ve sold my house for what I could get for it and we’ve moved to Milton, Florida.” In the Panhandle. He said, “In the shop where I worked, out of 20 employees, 5 have moved away.” (I wonder if anyone has told him that hurricanes hit the Florida Panhandle, too.) He was very critical of the lack of leadership from the New Orleans authorities.

Freddie Arnold sold his East New Orleans home last week for probably less than a half of its pre-Katrina value, and will be building in Walker, Louisiana, between Hammond and Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, he has his little FEMA trailer behind our associational offices and a small house he built at Walker for Elaine and himself. The point is: people are moving away.

I’m always fascinated by what families put in the caskets beside their loved ones. Last year, a wonderful deacon at Lakeview Baptist Church buried his wife. As she lay in the casket at the funeral home, I noticed that her outfit was color coordinated, even with the color of her hair. Her husband told me they were always on the lookout for fingernail polish of that unusual hue and bought all they could find. He had deposited a small bottle of it near her hands inside the casket.

Tuesday at my friend Bo Parker’s funeral, a small piece of white paper was poking out of his lapel pocket. His son, Dr. Wade Parker, smiled and said, “Dad always needed to know what the day’s receipts were at the furniture store. Even if he was in Hawaii or Canada, at 5 o’clock, he’d call Howard for the report. And even when he went to live in the retirement home, he loved to come down to the store and be there at the closing time to see what the sales were for that day. Howard brought this to us last night; it’s yesterday’s tally for the day’s receipts. We thought it would be fitting to put it in his pocket.” We smiled, and he added, “Actually, it was a pretty good day.”

Up in Heaven, Bo is smiling and thinking, “It’s a wonderful day.”