They’re now saying they may have overestimated the number of dead in New Orleans. I certainly hope so. It beats me how they ever came up with figures of 20,000 or even 40,000 in the first place. You get these local politicians in front of microphones, they’re exhausted beyond words, trying hard to say something that might be helpful, and these numbers come out. To their discredit, the media took it at face value. I pray that on reentering New Orleans, we’ll have surprisingly few funerals to conduct.

I noticed something this week about television. The people most affected by the hurricane, people who have relocated into homes and hotels, are watching very little of the continuous coverage. I’ve not asked any of them, but can tell you personally, it hurts too badly. Neil and Julie and I ate burgers yesterday in BackyardBurgers here in Columbus, MS, and the lone television mounted on the wall had closed captioning. We sat there glued to reading the words from anchors and leaders, and felt the burdens descend on our shoulders again. We will meet this soon enough, just as quickly as we are told it’s safe to come home.

The radio dials in New Orleans are broadcasting nothing but a cooperative play from a number of stations with 24 hour coverage of the storm damage. I suppose that’s the right thing to do, although if I were there, I think I’d be wanting a station to broadcoast some light, uplifting music. Say some Tommy Dorsey or Glenn Miller. At least some of the time.

Next Wednesday, we’re inviting our Baptist pastors–the ones we can contact–to meet us in Jackson, Mississippi, at First Baptist Church there. It’s downtown, across the street from the state capitol. We’ll go to the fourth floor conference room, beginning at 9 am, although at first we’ll be standing around and hugging and talking. So, if you are in touch with any of our Baptist pastors from metro New Orleans, pass the word, please.

A young pastor of a church in east New Orleans that was fairly well destroyed said to me, “What will we ever do? I don’t know what to do now.” I wrote back in my email, “My friend, you are about to see something you will be talking about the rest of your life. God is about to do a work that will change your ministry forever, and you will always be grateful you were there to see it happen.

“God has directed the attention of the world to New Orleans, and the attention of all of Southern Baptists to the churches of New Orleans. Soon, you will have a dozen or more churches to adopt your church. They’ll be sending people in to help you. If your church has to be bull-dozed and rebuilt from scratch, you’ll have lots of friends to help.

“To rephrase the famous speech from Henry V, ‘There are people serving God in other places right now who will wish they were here and in on this miracle God is about to do. But you are here. Nothing about you or your church or this city is ever going to be the same.

“Let’s believe God for this.”

Whenever I find people who express a concern for us, I tell them to pray that God will bless our pastors with a special love for Him and this place He has sent them to minister. And to go back to their churches and tell some of the people to get ready to come down and help us. (Those able to do real work and who don’t mind sleeping on the floor of the educational building; that seriously narrows the field, doesn’t it.) And I tell them, if they want to send an offering that will go directly to help the churches and pastors, send it to NEW ORLEANS ASSISTANCE, Louisiana Baptist Foundation, p. o. box 311, Alexandria, LA 71309. And lastly, to tell people this website www.joemckeever.com to keep up with what’s going on in Baptist work in our city.

A final note: To our beloved friends on the North Shore, on the Mississippi and Alabama Coasts also seriously affected, nothing I say here is to forget you or minimize what you are enduring. Our love and prayers go to you. We’re just trying to be faithful to our immediate assignment.