Ask any director of missions and he will tell you one of his biggest challenges is strengthening the connection between his pastors and other ministers. Even after the incredible post-Katrina blessings we’ve enjoyed, we still have to work at building the fellowship.

Wednesday, as our weekly pastors meeting resumed following the holidays, as the pastors entered the room, they sat alone or with the person they came with, usually at a table by themselves. But we encouraged them to move together, then played a little game we used to open Lay Evangelism Schools with.

“Where did you live at the age of 4 and how did you heat your home? Start with the person with the shortest hair and answer that question.” In two minutes, each table was finished. Second question.

“At what point in your life did Jesus become more than just a word to you?” That took longer and some began opening up. Third question.

“What is your biggest prayer request for the pastors and churches of New Orleans?” After they answered, we prayed, table by table, taking all the time anyone wished.

“My prayer,” I told them, “is that our ministers will be in this city because God put you here, not because you feel you have no other choice.”

It’s tough serving in a place where the work is difficult and the haunting suspicion that maybe the Lord has abandoned you here lingers in the back of your thoughts. So, I pray that the Lord will re-assign each of our ministers to the place where He called him, and we will serve Him on purpose and not by default.

Oscar Williams had a good word on this. “While we were evacuated and I was stressing out worrying about the future, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘You may be displaced but you’re not out of place.'” That brought a chorus of amens.

Freddie Arnold announced the farewell fellowship for Keith and Wendy Manuel this Saturday at FBC Belle Chasse from 1 to 4 pm. The Baptist Message has a big writeup this week about Keith’s new job in the state convention’s evangelism department, leading the emphasis on personal evangelism.

On February 10, FBC-NO will host an Inner Community Evangelism training. Open to everyone. It’s an all day affair, with training in the morning and teams going into the community to share faith that afternoon.

We announced the meeting of the associational administrative committee next Wednesday at 9 am. This is the only functioning committee we have in the association right now, so we ask the members to do everything needed doing. Next week, we need to replace Keith Manuel and elect two additional members, then install a rotation process. Presently, Tony Bellow, Gonzalo Rodriguez, and David Lema are the remaining members, with moderator Fred Luter and vice-moderator John Galey as ex-officio.

The mayor of New Orleans has appointed an Ethics Review Board composed of a half-dozen leading citizens, most of whom are college presidents. We are delighted that Dr. Cornelius Tilton, pastor of Irish Channel Christian Fellowship (and president of his own local Bible college) is among that number. Cornelius shared information and asked for our prayers. This board will look into charges of ethics violations, working with the city’s new Inspector General. Say, you don’t suppose that in the City of New Orleans they will ever find any ethics violations, do you? Nah!

At the present time, the local district attorney and FBI office are constantly in the news bringing charges against present or past officials. Not a pretty thing. Cornelius said if anyone thinks he will be a rubber-stamping passive committee member on this board, they’ve got a surprise in store.

Cornelius gave a report on the Irish Channel Christian Fellowship. (And yes, it is a Southern Baptist church. Someone sent me a news link recently about SBC churches in the northern states often choosing to omit the word “Baptist” from their names. I think he was shocked, or at least concerned. But we’ve had that going on around here for years. Celebration Church is one of our two largest churches, and Crossroads Community in Kenner another thriving small congregation. We do not intend to quibble over non-essentials.)

The Irish Channel church had structural damage in the sanctuary that goes back to the original construction but which the hurricane brought to light. They’re meeting in the fellowship hall and running 40 to 50. Last Sunday, they had 60.

Tobey Pitman and Steve Gahagan ask for your prayers for the Operation NOAH workers, the permanent and the volunteers. Steve said the devil is constantly nagging him, saying he is not making a difference here, that he should move back to South Carolina where the grass is green and the air is clean. “But if he’s bugging me, I know I must be doing something right,” he said. Steve asks us to pray for the skilled workers they have coming in.

James “Boogie” Melerine reported that Delacroix Hope Church–meeting at his home–broke their attendance record on December 24 with 81. Then, last Sunday they had 73, plus several visiting volunteer workers. Seven members of the now defunct Reggio Church joined and they had two professions of faith. He said, “We’re getting so many we will need Lake Pontchartrain to baptize them!”

Not to be outdone, Donald Miller of Allen Temple Church, said, “We usually average 4 or 5, but on New Year’s Eve we had 6.” Everyone applauded.

Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Church (and our associational moderator) asked for prayers for the family of Byron Johnson who died in November. He had been FABC’s only minister of music. “Now I have to do something I’ve never done before,” he said, “I have to find a new worship leader.”

Charlie Dale, Grace Church, announced that leaders from the Oklahoma Baptist Convention will be in town soon to meet with the pastors in Area 5 to see what they can do to help us reach our neighborhood.

We started our meeting with 15 or 20 present, but they kept coming. Toward the end of the session, Pastor Thuong Ngoc Le of the Vietnamese Church arrived with six or eight friends from Viet Nam who have come to see the situation and to help us. Recently Pastor Le traveled to Viet Nam with offerings from locals to assist in the rebuilding of churches and homes devastated by recently floodwaters there. As we dismissed, our pastors surrounded the visitors and welcomed them.

I did not stay for the fellowship, but drove to the funeral home in Metairie for a 12:30 funeral of a longtime member of the FBC of Kenner who died last week. As I drove away, I was struck by a phenomenon that has occurred time and again in these Wednesday pastors meetings: we start slowly, each person in his own little world, but gradually everyone opens up, we laugh and pray together, people share, and then when we conclude, no one wants to leave.

That is fellowship.