The Barataria Baptist Church is located in the town of Jean Lafitte, named for the infamous pirate whose headquarters were hidden in those wetlands and who assisted General Andrew Jackson in defeating the British at New Orleans early in 1815. The pastor at Barataria is Eddie Painter, a down-home son of Mississippi who has brought his wife and teenage daughter to live among the people down there in the swamps.

I’ve told on these pages how Eddie wasted no time in connecting with the people of this fishing village: he bought himself a boat and some crab traps and went into business for himself! He moved into the pastor’s residence next door to the church and commuted to the seminary, perhaps 25 or 30 miles upriver and across town. Eddie is 40 years old and sports a salt-and-pepper beard.

Under Eddie’s leadership, the church has been prospering. A few months ago, they went to two morning worship services–the first time I recall that happening at Barataria. And then Hurricane Gustav hit.

Most of us in and around New Orleans had little damage from that hurricane and from Ike which followed on its heels.(I’ve mentioned how two of our churches–Williams Boulevard in Kenner and Memorial in Metairie– lost roofs and had interior damage to parts of their facilities.) But the town of Jean Lafitte was completely underwater.

The church is built up somewhat, so they had no flooding of the building, but lost portions of the roof and had some water damage inside. Next door, however, the pastor’s residence was drowned and suffered total loss of furniture and appliances.

Eddie tells me they managed to get his family’s clothing out before it was ruined. The minister of youth–Matthew–suffered lots of water damage and total loss.

Sunday, I drove down to Barataria Baptist Church to worship with this congregation. They were holding only an 11 a.m. service, which was filled. (Eddie says the bathrooms are out of commission and will have to be rebuilt, so they’re unwilling to ask the congregation to stay beyond the time for one worship service.)

How to describe this congregation….

They are a mixture; they are salt of the earth. There wasn’t a white shirt and tie in the building (I didn’t wear one either). Eddie preached wearing blue jeans and a pull-over shirt. He is a wonderful communicator and connects with his people as well as any pastor I know.

“The Power of Prayer” was the subject of his sermon, based on the first parable in Luke 18, one of my favorite scriptures. This is the story Jesus told of the poor widow woman who has been mistreated by someone and is seeking justice at the hands of a hard-hearted judge who “does not fear God nor respect man.”

Eddie asked his congregation, “How many of you know what it is to stand in long lines and still be turned away?” Lots of hands went up. “How many of you were rejected by the government people when you went to them for help?” Several hands.

“Then,” he said, “I want to tell you about a resource you have that is always near, always available, and always eager to help you.” (I had slipped into the service after it began and for one panicky moment, I was afraid Eddie had spotted me and was about to claim these attributes for the director of missions!!!! Thankfully, this pastor knows both the limitations of his DOM and the bountiful supply of the loving Heavenly Father.)

I’m not into the sermon critiquing business–I keep reminding our pastors of that, so they’re never to fear when I show up–but Eddie preached a fine message on the picture, the persistence, and the power of prayer. Then, he spent the last five minutes of the message driving home its points and calling on people to respond to the invitation. Anyone who reads my stuff knows how important I believe it to be that a pastor not “tack on” the invitation to a message, like building a lean-to onto the back of a cathedral. Eddie did well. Several people responded.

When the service ended, few people left. Some members looked over the damaged building and others moved across to the display of free clothing on the walkway in front of the educational building. This clothing was left after their recent giveaway, and the pastor called for volunteers to box up the remains and take to Goodwill.

Outside the church, an older woman who had responded to the invitation came over and hugged Pastor Eddie. “This man is my heart,” she said.

When the lady told me she was about to leave for Disney World with her family, I suggested she read the comic strip in today’s paper entitled “Pickles,” in which the grandparents discuss that theme park. “I don’t actually read or write,” she said.

That caught me up short. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone say that.

I said, “May I ask how it is that you never learned to read or write?”

She said, “I’m the middle child of 12 children. Our mother was an alcoholic. Our daddy worked three jobs to try to hold the family together, and we moved down here when I was a child and dropped out of school at the age of 8.”

Lest I feel sorry for her, she quickly moved to stop that. “Let me tell you how I got to this church.” She had gone to see the priest, she said, and “three times he threw me out of his office.” He told her, “I know you’ve just come for money and we’re not going to give you any.” She felt rejected and went home.

“That night in my dream, the Lord came to me and told me to come to the Baptist Church. I did, and met this wonderful man here. He led to me Christ and baptized me.” She pointed out her daughter who is about to be baptized.

“As soon as I get home and eat lunch,” she said, “I go to my room and turn on the recorded Bible and listen to the Word of God. It’s so wonderful. I’d rather do that than anything.”

One of the odd things about the community of Jean Lafitte is that while it’s an old fishing village populated by native people, it has also become a bedroom community for New Orleans where expensive mansions are being built. When the pastor’s home was ruined, a church member who had been renting out a home he owned, turned it over to the pastor and his family. “I’ve love to buy it,” Eddie says, “but it costs twice as much as I can afford.”

Meanwhile, the church is struggling with the decision on whether to build back the pastorium the way it was, to completely redesign it, to raise it up several feet, or to demolish it, build a new house in the property behind the church, or just go to a housing allowance and get out of the pastorium business. No simple solution.

We’ll appreciate your prayers for this wonderful pastor and his outstanding little congregation.

(If you would like to make a contribution to this church, make it out to Barataria Baptist Church, and mail to Pastor Eddie Painter at 2596 Jean Lafitte Boulevard, Lafitte, LA 70067.)

(You’ve noticed a drop in the number of articles we’ve been posting here. There’s a reason. My computer at home is down with a virus and has been turned off for some 3 weeks now. I’ll tell you, it’s tough walking down the hall past my study and not stepping inside to turn on the computer in order to check emails and begin work on another article. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought of a good subject to write about, then remembered the virus, and by the time I got to the office, the subject had vanished into thin air. On the bright side, however, I’ve got a lot more reading done in the last few weeks!!)