Gradually, the local picture becomes clearer. Less smokier, shall we say.

The statewide ban on smoking inside Louisiana restaurants went into effect January 1. Some local eateries are hollering that they will lose business, although no one has explained who they will lose it to. As much print as this change is receiving, you would never know that the law has no teeth in it, that lawmakers are counting on the public to enforce the ban. Anyone acquainted with human nature has to be skeptical.

Keith Manuel and Bob Moore are leaving. Keith, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in the Algiers section of New Orleans and one of our leading ministers for over 7 years, will be joining the staff of the Evangelism Department of the state Baptist convention. Bob, associate pastor of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans, is moving to a Montgomery, Alabama, church in a similar capacity. Both are fine men who will leave major holes around here.

Calvary Church is hosting a reception for Keith and Wendy Manuel (also Keith, Jr., Jeremy, and Hannah) this Saturday afternoon, January 6, at the First Baptist Church of Belle Chasse.

Keith promises that with his new state-wide duties, he will be back this way often and we have not seen the last of him. Since Katrina, he has developed newswriting talents and taken photos of the New Orleans area that have appeared in publications everywhere. Yet, prior to the hurricane, he didn’t even own a camera. Necessity was the mother of this creativity. Baptist Press has run many Keith-Manuel-articles on local people.

David Crosby is back. The ten-year pastor of the FBC-NO has returned from a three-month sabbatical. Over lunch Tuesday he said half seriously, “The bad part is everyone expects me to have come back rested up.” For several weeks, he and Janet visited friends and family in other parts of the country, but over the past month, they’ve been back here doing funerals and weddings and meeting with church leaders, although his staff has been preaching. He returns to the pulpit Sunday, January 7.

My first question to him was, “After three months away, did you find it hard to come back?” The answer was no, that he was ready. I told him I’d just taken two weeks off and did not want to come back this (Tuesday) morning. But, I got out of bed early, did my usual morning routine and was in the office on time. An hour later, a pastor called needing my assistance and soon I was glad to be back in the saddle.

This time last year on these pages, I was reporting plans for a huge residential development to be built in the Avondale section of the West Bank, eventually comprising 20,000 expensive homes on 3,000 acres. Pastors in that area grew swimmy-headed thinking of the influx of that many new families. Alas, it is not to be.

Tuesday’s Times-Picayune reports that the partnership of KB Home and the Shaw Group have backed out of the project. The owner of that huge tract of land says economic forces caused the builders to downsize their plans to a mere 100 acres. And they wanted the best hundred acres in the tract, he complained, which would make the remaining land less attractive. He said no and they said goodbye.

Jefferson Parish leaders are trying to put the best face possible on this fiasco, saying this will allow them to plan for incremental growth of the parish instead of facing a sudden influx of thousands of residents at once. With the widening project recently begun on the Huey P. Long Bridge–costing $660 million and taking 5 years–growth on the West Bank will come naturally and gradually, they promise.

What I wonder is why in the world would parish leaders and the management of these huge companies go public with such vast plans before they even bought the land. You would think a mayor or parish president would have told them: buy the land first, show me the money, then we’ll call a news conference.

One more disappointment for this area. One of many.

We wonder what happened to the plans for a complete redevelopment of the downtown business district around City Hall, a project that was put forward with such fanfare about the same time. The owners of the Hyatt Hotel across the walkway from the Superdome, were taking the lead in this visionary plan. The announcement and artists’ renderings took up several pages of the Times-Picayune, then we have heard nothing since.

What gives, one wonders.

Some New Orleans musicians are wondering the same thing tonight.

First, a little background. Anyone with a television set has seen the new Habitat homes that have been erected in the Upper Ninth Ward on Alvar Street on the former site of the Joseph Kohn Middle School. NBC’s Brian Williams interviewed President Bush in front of those wildly colorful houses. Our sign in front of them calls this “Baptist Crossroads,” while others refer to it as “Musicians’ Village.” Volunteers from all over the nation have been here helping to construct these 40 homes under the direction of Habitat for Humanity.

(We’re having a board meeting of the Baptist Crossroads Foundation next Saturday morning and I hope to find out to what extent that development is our Baptist Crossroads and how much is the Musicians’ village. Habitat’s executive-director Jim Pate sits in on all our meetings. He’s a great guy.)

Musicians and various artists across the country have raised millions of dollars to help fund these houses. The Dave Matthews Band gave a $1.5 million challenge grant with the money to go to the musicians village. Other groups gave 100 percent of their tour sales. One of Harry Connick’s CDs generated money for the village. BP America gave $250,000 and Shell Oil $500,000. Millions came from benefits and recordings by New Orleanians.

And then the problem arose.

Most of the musicians who wanted to buy a Habitat house and live in the musicians village were turned down by Habitat. They had bad credit.

Now, buying a Habitat house is a good deal. You get a home worth $75,000 and pay no interest on a 20 year loan. With insurance and taxes and pest control contract, your monthly payment comes to around $550.

However, they don’t just hand those homes out to anyone. Applicants must have a good credit history, an income of a level sufficient to make these payments, and invest some “sweat equity” in helping build Habitat homes for others. The Habitat folks say only 10 percent of applicants are approved.

They say bad credit is common in musicians in the local culture. They get paid irregularly or not at all, and live wherever they can. Cherice Harrison-Nelson, a musician who was accepted by Habitat, says, “The credit-worthiness issue is big. I always say ‘Creative people are creative 24/7. They pay their bills creatively, too.'”

Habitat says they’re working on getting more musicians in there. Oddly enough, the musicians aren’t complaining too much. Many never applied in the first place, knowing they would never meet the strict standards.

I asked David Crosby if returning to the devastation of this city was depressing to him after months of living in “normal” cities. He said, “I drove through Lakeview coming to lunch today and it’s still so sad. Yes, it is absolutely depressing.”

I’m always asking people to pray for our pastors. David’s comment highlights one of the most compelling reasons: it takes a lot of inner strength to get up every morning and go to work in such depressing surroundings. Our friends who come to help us rebuild are so generous and sacrificial of their time, energy, and money. But they get to go back home and live in normal-land. Our people never do. The devastation is all around them, all the time, and will not go away for several years. It takes such stamina to stay on the job through this.

I’m perfectly willing for the Father to call any of our guys away to other places of service in His own time and for His purposes. But I don’t want to lose any of them from sickness. Or sadness. Or depression. Or discouragement.

One told me this morning he’s working on getting a real estate license so he can afford to remain here with his diminished congregation.

Thank you for praying for him and the rest of us.

As time goes by and the picture becomes clearer, it becomes obvious that the only way we’re going to make it is by the fervent prayer of the Lord’s people.