Our friends in the Arkansas Baptist State Convention footed the bill for our full-color, full-page ad in the Tuesday, August 29, 2006, “Katrina Anniversary” edition of the Times-Picayune. Here’s the ad, everything except the two color snapshots toward the bottom from Keith Manuel’s photography.
AN ANNIVERSARY LOVE-NOTE FROM THE 85 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCHES OF METRO NEW ORLEANS
You know us. We’re the Baptist church in your neighborhood–like Williams Boulevard Baptist Church in Kenner at Interstate 10, Riverside Church on Jefferson Highway, West St. Charles in Boutte, and Celebration Church on Transcontinental. We’re El Camino Iglesia and El Buen Pastor Iglesia in Metairie, the Vietnamese Baptist Church in Gretna, and the Korean Agape Church in Marrero. In New Olreans, we are Edgewater Church on Paris Avenue, New Salem in the Ninth Ward, and Franklin Avenue, now worshiping with First Baptist Church on Canal Boulevard. We are Grace on North Rampart, Oak Park on Kabel, and Horeb Spanish on Bellemeade. We are Port Sulphur Church downriver in Plaquemines Parish, and in St. Bernard, we’re Poydras and Delacroix Hope Baptist churches, and the coalition church meeting at Chalmette High School. Before Katrina, we counted 140 of our churches large and small in the metro area. At the moment, that number is 85.
We are the yellow-shirted “Disaster Relief” volunteers you saw for months after Katrina–running chainsaws, gutting out houses, handing out food and water, preparing and serving literally millions of hot meals throughout the area. Our people arrived from every state in the union to assist New Orleans, serving under the leadership of our own Louisiana Baptist Convention (www.lbc.org).
We are Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Georgia, Kentucky, and Louisiana red-shirted “Builders for Christ,” reconstructing houses throughout the metro area (www.namb.net/bbuilders).
We are “Operation NOAH Rebuild” with offices at Calvary Baptist Church in Algiers, coordinating the work of a constant stream of volunteers from churches across America. We are the Volunteer Village in the World Trade Center at the foot of Canal Street, able to house 500 volunteers a night. Our people have gutted out thousands of flooded homes already and are at work this very moment rebuilding houses (www.namb.net/noah).
We are “Baptist Crossroads,” the Ninth Ward project where our volunteers are constructing forty new homes under the direction of Habitat for Humanity. When these homes are finished, we plan to keep right on so long as there is a need (www.baptistcrossroads.com).
We are the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on Gentilly Boulevard, birthed in this city in 1917 and committed to the rebuilding of a brand-new New Orleans (www.nobts.edu).
We are brothers and sisters to all who follow Jesus Christ as Lord. We take literally the words of the Savior when He said, “Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40) Helping our neighbors is His command and our privilege. We love New Orleans. In fact, we are New Orleans.
We love you, New Orleans.
We’re with you for the duration.
JOIN US TONIGHT FOR A PRAYER AND PRAISE RALLY!
We will gather at 7:00 pm with members of churches served by the New Orleans Pastors Coalition and PRC Compassion to celebrate what God has done and to pray for this city. The meeting will be at First Baptist Church of New Orleans, 5290 Canal Boulevard. Program personnel include Franklin Avenue’s Fred Luter and American Idol’s George Huff. A mass choir from our churches will lead the worship and various ministers from the city will lead prayer times.
For more information, go to the website of the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans (www.bagnola.org) and visit the website of our Director of Missions (www.joemckeever.com).
This ad paid for by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and the surrounding areas hold a very special place in my heart. I started my walk with our Lord as a teenager at Handsboro Baptist Church in Gulfport MS.
I wish I could be there in person at tonight’s prayer and praise rally. Alas, that will not happen so please count me among those who continue to join you in spirit and in prayer for the mighty work God is doing in all the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Carolyn in Charlotte NC
Brother Joe,
I just had to let you know that I stand with you in prayer, especially today. I have been reading your blog for awhile now and I have so moved, so inspired, so heartbroken, so hopeful, so angry and so thankful as I follow your personal and collective journey through this storm. Thank you for the window into your world that helps me put my world in perspective. I see Jesus in you and yours down there. God Bless You.
Deborah in Michigan
Brother Joe,
Thank you for your consistent messages of hope and honesty…Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and Honesty about our need for Jesus in our lives. We miss our family, friends and church in New Orleans, but we are thankful to get the REAL story about what’s going on in New Orleans through your e-mails.
Kent & Becky
San Antonio