Several texts keep coming up in our post-hurricane conversations around the New Orleans area. I made a list the other day and was pleasantly surprised to find seven texts, that being the biblical number for completion.

JUDGES 5:2 After her great victory, Deborah sang, “That the leaders led in Israel and that the people volunteered, O bless the Lord.” Pretty good arrangement, when the leaders are doing their job and the people are doing theirs. Let either group quit and nothing gets done.

DEUTERONOMY 28:13 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail.” God promises that His children who are obedient will be leaders wherever they go, not the reactors and definitely not just followers. Leaders do not ask anyone to elect them, they step up and lead. Leaders do not take polls to see what the people want; Godly leaders are more interested in what God wants, and they go forth to do it. A pastor friend told me this week he knew Rick Warren as a seminary student. He said, “I have copies of his notes from those years, notes which became the ‘Purpose-Driven Life’ best-selling book. Rick has worked on that all these years.” He was saying this leader was not compiling other people’s thoughts into a book which he would market, but spent all these years perfecting the insights God had given him. God makes us the head. Not the mayor, not an election. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever elected Billy Graham as the nation’s pastor.

DEUTERONOMY 31:6,7,23 and JOSHUA 1:6, 7, 9, 18 “Be strong and courageous.” Seven times God tells His people–sometimes Israel and sometimes Joshua–to be strong and of good courage. He obviously meant to emphasize it! “Be strong” indicates there is a hard job to do; “Be courageous” implies that it is dangerous or scary. It did not take strength for Rosa Parks to sit on the bus seat that day in Montgomery, but it took courage for her to remain there when the driver asked her to move to the back. When the furor erupted and the city was plunged into racial strife, she needed strength and courage. Sometimes we need one, sometimes the other, and often both.

JEREMIAH 29: 7 “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, for as it prospers, you will prosper.” The word is actually Shalom, meaning peace and fullness of life, sometimes translated “prosperity.” God says, Seek the shalom of the city, for as it has shalom, so will you. That’s a great assurance for God’s people today, scattered across the globe and sometimes wondering just how heavily to invest in the current civil goings-on. Seek Shalom.

PSALM 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” That should be the watchword for the Bring Back New Orleans Commission.

NEHEMIAH 2:17 “Let us arise and build in order that we no longer be a reproach.” This is a special word for God’s people in this city. Let me tell you why it speaks to me….

A few short years ago, when I was pastoring the First Baptist Church of Kenner, across from the New Orleans airport, one of our men told me he had lined up New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass as our speaker for next month’s men’s prayer breakfast. Great. A few days later, I was doing a volunteer job downtown where the police were everywhere. Chief Compass came up and stood around, looking the situation over. I walked over and introduced myself and reminded him of the invitation to speak to our men. He was looking forward to it. The day came and went and he never showed. Nor did we ever get a word of explanation. You may know he resigned after Katrina and has dropped off the radar screen.

Then, last October (2004), we were having our Fall associational meeting of all the Baptist churches in metro New Orleans. This would be my first since becoming Director of Missions, so I wrote a letter inviting Mayor Ray Nagin to attend and speak briefly. Someone from the mayor’s office called, wanting more information. The meeting would be in Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, pastored by the mayor’s friend Fred Luter, so I asked Fred to help us secure him. Then, I chatted with the mayor at a breakfast meeting and gave him a written note to carry back to the office, reminding him. A few days before the occasion, we (Fred’s office and mine) made calls to firm up the mayor’s appearance. We printed his name in the bulletin. He too never showed. Later, I asked Fred Luter and he assured me that he has yet to hear one word of explanation or excuse.

In telling those two incidents to our people, I add, “I am so grateful to the police chief and the mayor for vividly illustrating to us just how insignificant they consider us Baptists. We don’t matter to them. They can ignore us. We’re not going to do anything. We sit in our buildings and do our programs and no one ever knows we’re here.” I would end by declaring that our task is to make ourselves part of the answer of this city, to stand up and speak up, to go to work and make a difference.

I had no idea Katrina would be the catalyst for accomplishing that. For if the city of New Orleans and the surrounding burbs have learned anything, it is that God’s people called Southern Baptists are here in force, doing good, serving anyone and everyone with a need. We’re here, and if you don’t mind my saying it this way, we’re not going to be silent any more. And write it down in big letters, we’re not going away either.

Non-Baptists who read these articles regularly should not be put off by my continually talking about the Baptists in this city. That is my assignment, it’s about all I know, and it’s a reaction to the reproach with which we have been held by city leaders so long. Ask any local pastor.

PROVERBS 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” That’s why God wants His people working together. Our slogan for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans is “We are better TWOgether.”