Today was our first Wednesday pastors’ gathering at Oak Park Baptist Church in the Algiers section of New Orleans. We began at 10 as advertised, but they straggled in for the first fifteen minutes, until our final number topped out in the early 40s. Bruce Nolan, religion editor for the Times-Picayune, sat among us today for the first time. Monday, it had occurred to me he might be interested in this meeting of pastors, particularly since it has meet weekly since last September and shows hardly any sign of slacking off.

Whoever shows up is the program. Today, that meant Freddie Arnold, Joe Williams, Gary Mitchell, Steve Gahagan, and the usual suspects. What makes it special is that it’s always different. What each one shares is never the same. I often think of the line from I Corinthians 14 that in the early church worship services, one would come with a song, another comes with a message from the Lord, another a testimony, and so on.

Freddie Arnold reported on his meeting last week with all disaster relief workers in Arlington, Texas, his “On Mission Celebration” in Cullman, Alabama, the week before, and another gathering or two along the way he’s attended. Freddie reports to outsiders that the SBC disaster relief teams which descended on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after the hurricane established a high reputation here for integrity, that they helped to create a spiritual environment which enhanced the Billy & Franklin Graham crusades which were so well-attended and so fruitful, and that they provided a ray of hope in a dark, dark situation all across this area. He reported that in last week’s Arlington meeting, a representative of the Internation Mission Board presented a check for $800 from a small group of Muslims from Southeast Asia, men whose areas had been so hurt by the tsunami. For each of the men, their gift represented one month’s income. It is precious in the Lord’s sight and in ours.

In the Arlington meeting, Freddie Arnold was one of several to receive the Distinguished Service Award in DR work. He receives our vote for being awarded the whole shooting match.

Joe Williams continues holding his “Ministry Fatigue Seminars” for our ministers and spouses. “We’ve refined it now to 10 am to 2 pm, including lunch.” He is finding that one aspect of the fatigue of ministers is that they cannot free up large blocks of time to devote to these seminars. Joe said, “We are providing some material for workers with pre-school children in your church,” referring to a stack of books entitled “Helping Children Rebound.”

Gary Mitchell works with bi-vocational and small-church pastors for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. The denominational wide group of which he is a part had planned to hold their 2006 meeting on the campus of our local seminary. After the hurricane, they tried to move the meeting to Covington on the northshore where they found a meeting place, but no hotels. Finally, the Pearl River Baptist Association in McNeill, Mississippi, opened their camp to the group and they will be meeting there the end of this week, and driving down to see New Orleans. Gary said, “We took McKeever up on a recent invitation in his blog to ‘come and see.'” They will overflow the 128 beds the PRBA camp has available, spilling onto floors and into RVs.

Steve Gahagan is the newly-arrived construction manager for Project NOAH, the arm of our North American Mission Board that is setting up to organize the volunteer efforts of thousands over the next two years as they arrive to assist in the rebuilding of this city. Steve used to be a construction supervisor for Habitat for Humanity in South Carolina and his wife Dianne has great administrative skills. So Dianne will run the office for NOAH, in a building NAMB provided for their use at nearby Calvary Baptist Church. They’re living in one of the ministerial homes owned by Oak Park. We are so blessed to have NAMB’s direct involvement here, and particularly honored to have Steve and Dianne, workers whom the Lord seems to have prepared for just such leadership roles.

Joe Kay is the interim associate pastor and, as he says, “Minister of Miscellaneous,” at our host church, Oak Park. As he welcomed us and told of the lunch plans, he got everyone’s full attention when he said, “Our church has a 15 passenger 1996 Ford van to give to one of you. It needs a brake job. See me afterwards.” Someone said, “The line forms in the rear of the auditorium.” Sure enough, at lunch, three pastors came by to ask that their name be added to the “van lottery”. Joe took their information and said, “We have a committee on this. I’ll pass it along.”

David Crosby, pastor of FBC-NO, reported on the progress of the Baptist Crossroads aim of constructing 40 new Habitat for Humanity homes in the Ninth Ward this summer using volunteer labor. He urged everyone to send representatives this Saturday to a preparation meeting for the August 26 “Just Give Me Jesus” women’s meeting at the New Orleans Arena with Anne Graham Lotz. He added, “Anne is the best preacher in this generation of the Billy Graham family.”

At lunch Steve Gahagan said to Dianne, who had missed part of the meeting, “I was so struck by something today. At one point, Joe called on the pastor of the Vietnamese Baptist Church to give a report. He was followed by the pastor of the Korean Church, and he by the pastor of the Haitian Church, and then the pastor of the Chinese Church. After them, came the Spanish and the African-Americans and then the Anglos. It was really something.”

What struck me today was the synergy of our relationships. One pastor would get up and express a need for something and someone would raise his hand and say, “I can do that” or “I’ve got it.” When Jay Adkins of FBC Westwego told the group he had a scheduling problem and has two large teams of volunteers descending on him the same week in June and that he needs help to accommodate them, John Galey of Poydras raised his hand. “I can take them.” Jay told what would be required–the group John is volunteering to take is over 100 men–and John assured him they could take care of it. Another pastor nearby raised his hand and said, “We’ll be his backup. If he needs help, we’ll be there.”

Galey told the group about the First Baptist Church of Kenner providing all the wall board for their rebuilt sanctuary. Alberto Rivera told of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans partnering with them to restore their sanctuary.

Jeff Box walked in toward the last of our gathering. Everyone was excited to hear of the return of Suburban Baptist Church. “I am so excited about ministry in New Orleans right now,” he said. Jeff’s excitement may have another cause: on May 13, he receives his master’s degree from the seminary.

I asked Religion Editor Bruce Nolan in a phone call Wednesday afternoon for his main impression after this morning’s meeting. “I was struck by the diversity of the group,” he said. “Far more than I would have expected in Southern Baptists.” He added, “And I was struck by the cooperation and collaboration of your pastors. One had a need and another raised his hand and took care of it.” That happened several times. Bruce said, “I got four or five stories out of the meeting today.”

I have finally figured something out.

Every Wednesday, I leave these pastors meetings on a high. The turnout is great, the participation excellent, the spirit of everyone so Christlike, and the information shared so helpful. Pastors who never attended anything we did before have become mainstays, friendships for a lifetime are bonding, and love permeates the place. And it finally dawned on me.

Someone is praying.

Everywhere I go away from here, people come up to tell me they pray for us. Some say, “I’ve never met you, but I pray for you every day.” I am so touched and we are so honored, and I tell them so. But today, it finally occurred to me that this is the reason these Wednesday gatherings are so right. Christ is in this place and people are lifting us up.

We sincerely thank you. And we promise you this: when it’s all over, the miracle of the new New Orleans will be yours. I agree with Jeff Box. This is a great time to be ministering in this city. But the main reason is because of the lovely men and women of God who come to assist us. I’m 66 years old and started pastoring in 1962, and I have never had more fun, never shed more tears, never hurt more often or in a deeper way, and never prayed better than right now.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for the honor.