Ken Taylor has pastored our Elysian Fields Avenue Baptist Church for the past 18 years, watching it transition from suburbia to inner city without moving an inch. He has seen the neighborhood deteriorate somewhat over the years, yet has steadily led his members into the community with loving ministry and the truth of the gospel. All the time, he has served as a professor at the nearby New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Right now, he’s on campus teaching Monday and Tuesday classes, then in North Alabama where he evacuated with his family until his residence on campus is made habitable again. I received an interesting report from him Tuesday afternoon.
In an internet spot where Ken’s classmembers register their comments on his classroom material, a student waxed eloquent on the depravity of New Orleans. He said, “I found New Orleans utterly disgusting in almost every facet. I wouldn’t deny a few aspects of the city will be missed; but on a scale of overall good versus evil the city was clearly due for destruction. After being there for three years, living on campus, and discovering how ineffectual the Christian community appeared to be, the best thing that may have ever happened for the souls in New Orleans was to be disbursed.”
Ouch. That was brutal.
(Incidentally, the student probably did not mean ‘disburse,’ which means ‘to pay out,’ but ‘disperse,’ meaning ‘to scatter.)
Ken responded on the site, “I react strongly to the words ‘utterly disgusting,’ ‘clearly due for destruction,’ and ‘ineffectual Christian community’ applied to New Orleans and to its churches. Clearly there was the disgusting, and the evil, and the imperfect church…. I challenge anyone to show me a city that does not have great evil. Were (this) to be the determination of what or who was to be destroyed, how many of us…would be saved?”
For two more pages, Ken gently and kindly answers his student. He tempers his words and softens their impact by explaining that he has mulled over the student’s comments during his 380-mile drive that afternoon to North Alabama. “Nothing personal is meant by this response,” he cautions, “so please do not feel that I am attacking you.”
You are too kind, Ken. So, let me do it for you.
Whoever the student is–the letter does not give a clue, so I respond simply based on his words–the note betrays a meanness of spirit completely out of place in a servant of the Lord. Meanness added to his obvious immaturity makes a dangerous combination for one called to minister to the hurting and offer God’s good news to the lost.
I would hazard a guess that the student did not serve a church in the New Orleans community during his three year sojourn here. More likely, he escaped to the hills every weekend, looking for a safe place to serve, a site with no evil and a church of the godly, and that he reluctantly forced himself back onto campus late each Monday evening, counting the days until his graduation when he could leave Nineveh for good and move back to Judah. It has happened before. He is not the first by a long shot; he won’t be the last.
I would venture that the student is negative about more than New Orleans, that this is typical of him, and that those closest to him have felt the sting of his biting sarcasm.
Finally, I suggest that the reason his comments bother me so much is that he’s pretty close to the truth. Not dead on, but close enough for my discomfort. After all, this is my ministry and my people he’s talking about. As a pastor first and now director of missions in this city, I have admitted and confess here that many of our churches were weak and ineffective. Some of our people have forgotten the mandate from our Lord to be new wineskins and have grown resistant to change and hardened against the Holy Spirit. Some have. But a great many have not. God has His people in this city. Ask Fred Luter. Ask David Crosby. Ask Dennis Watson and Gonzalo Rodriguez and Cherry Blackwell. Ask me.
Did New Orleans deserve the judgment of God? No question. Does Jackson or Hattiesburg or Baton Rouge? Yes. All have sinned. If the Lord begins to mark iniquity, no one will stand. (cf. Ps. 130:3)
Did the dispersal of our people bring good to many? Thank the Lord, yes. We personally know of some who came to Christ in their evacuation and others since their return. I have publicly rejoiced on these pages over the empty housing projects where crime and drugs and misery once reigned, praying that those who once lived here have found freedom and joy and peace in their new homes. Romans 8:28 is still in effect; God is at work using these conditions for His purposes.
But the main thing I question about this young one is his qualification to make such a harsh judgment. Had he come in here and spent those three years working alongside Dr. Ken Taylor, trying to bring hope and help to inner city children, on the docks with the chaplains of Global Maritime reaching out to the port workers and visiting seamen from the world who visit our port, or downtown at the Brantley Center, serving the homeless alongside Toby Pitman and David Rhymes, then he could have uttered his judgment and had every right to have done so.
As it stands, I question his right to utter such harsh and unloving condemnations. Only the one who has given his life in ministry and love to these has the right to condemn them.
The other person–I said in the title there were two men–is a fellow from Sun City, Arizona, who visited the Wednesday pastors meeting and stood up to say a few words. He was Jim or Bob or Don, one of the three men representing their congregation which is adopting Highland Church in Metairie. Scott Smith introduced them and handed the one on the end a microphone. He stood slowly and spoke reluctantly.
“I’m not sure what to say,” he began. “Scott drove us around the city and we are overwhelmed. We’ve never seen devastation like this before. Frankly, we’re not sure what we can do to help. But we’re going to commit ourselves to Highland and do what we can.
He continued, “This may be like the story of the little girl who was late coming home one afternoon. She told her mother she’d been down at her friend Janie’s house, helping her. ‘She dropped her doll,’ she said, ‘and the head was broken.’ The mother said, ‘Well, honey, you couldn’t fix the doll. What could you do to help her?’ She said, ‘I just helped her cry.’
“That may be all we can do for you,” he said. “Maybe we will just help you cry.”
That’s all. No rebuking the churches, no pronouncements of judgment. Just kindness to a hurting people. And to a man, every person in the room felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit through this brother.
One hopes every young minister learns there is a time to cut and a time to heal, and matures to the point where he can tell the difference. Otherwise, he will only do more damage to those who are down.
Anyone who kick the wounded man in the ditch. It takes a strong believer to get down in the ditch with him and bind up his wounds.
There are words that knock men to the ground, words that keep the fallen man on his back, and words that stand a man on his feet. (Job 4:4)
No doubt someone will pass along this little essay to the seminarian in question. Far from wanting to hurt him, my purpose is to be a faithful brother to him, remembering the words of Solomon: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6)
The city and culture of New Orleans have a tendency to produce a love/hate reaction for all who grew up on the outside. Having spent 16 years in the New Orleans metro area (including several years at NOBTS), I have experienced the love/hate 1st hand. When we initially moved to NOLA, it seemed to be another world. As we put down roots, made friends and became involved in the community, our perception of the city and area changed. Finally when we moved away, it was like leaving “home” and I suppose that New Orleans will always feel like home. Yes, the city is filled with sin (just as other cities, as you so aptly pointed out) but the city is also filled with hurting and often hopeless people – a people that need to experience the love of God.
In response to the student who had such harsh things to say – my impression has always been that some students were only there to get a degree and could not wait until they could graduate and move from campus(a campus from which they seldom ventured)
Joe, I have enjoyed reading your updates on the city and the churches in the area. As I have read, I have mentally pictured the places which you write and my heart and prayers continue to go out to all who are trying to put their lives back together.
A lengthy P.S. from Joe McKeever–
I struggled with this article, trying to find the balance between love and truth. My wife will tell you I read versions of it to her twice that evening, then went back striking, revising, and editing it down to its present state. Several readers have written notes of affirmation to me personally–which I deeply appreciate–but so far, only Teri has left her comments here, which I appreciate even more, as others are able to share them.
In 1990, when the Lord sent us to New Orleans, we came reluctantly. We’d lived here in the 60’s and knew what it was like. Preachers around here have a saying that “no pastor should move to New Orleans with only a whisper from God.” Make Him write it on the wall! And when friends in other places would ask how I liked it, I would answer flippantly, “There are 13 things we love and 87 we hate.” I said it to get a laugh as much as anything, but I actually made a list of those things we loved and hated. The crime, the noise, pollution, the wickedness, and the politics headed the list of our dislikes. Over the years, the ratio reversed itself. There were 13 things we hated and 87 we loved. Living with a people will do that to a fellow.
Years ago when I served as a trustee of our International Mission Board, I made a two week trip to Singapore to help the missionaries there come up with an evangelistic comic book for use with teens. I was struck by the loveliness of that city-state, but surprised by something else. Almost everyone of our Southern Baptist missionaries lived in upper middle class neighborhoods, had servants (which were inexpensive and freed the wives up for ministry, to be fair), and belonged to the International Baptist Church, a wonderful congregation that could have dropped down and fit perfectly inside Columbus, Mississippi, where we were living at the time. Yet, the vast majority of Singaporeans were living in flats, small apartments inside high-rises of 30 stories or more. The disconnect between our missionaries and the people they were trying to reach was stark. My point being….
The student who wrote his criticism of New Orleans says he has lived on the campus of our Baptist seminary for three years. Now, I love that place, and owe it far more than I will ever be able to repay. But it ain’t New Orleans. It’s more like an island inside the eastern part of the city. Almost a ghetto, if you will, but of a reverse type, an upscale safe and beautiful retreat from the neighborhood around it.
Margaret and I lived on campus only our first year, 1964-65. We carried Alabama license plates on the car and ran home every chance we got. Then, in April of ’65, we were called to pastor a church 25 miles west of the city, in a little cajun community. The pastor’s residence was an apartment in the back of the church. We moved in that June. That is when we became Louisianians. That is when we started to know the people and to love them. We changed our license plates and learned to shuck oysters and to appreciate our neighbors with the strange accents. They welcomed us with open arms and sweet spirits and God taught us some important cultural lessons.
I do not defend Mardi Gras or the Southern Decadence thing the gays do in the French Quarter each year. Voodoo is no harmless tourist thing. We do not excuse the corrupt politics down here, but applaud those who expose it and champion the leaders who serve with integrity. Nothing I say here is meant to imply that we have made peace with the ungodliness of this place.
But then again, after moving from this city in 1967, we pastored for 19 years in Mississippi. There, we learned to love some of the most wonderful people the Lord ever created, many of whom remain our best friends to this day. But we preached against the racism and hard-heartedness and hypocrisies we saw every day in those towns. It’s what ministers do.
But one important point needs to be engraved on the minds and hearts of every minister: only when you love the people can you rebuke their sins. As the old line goes: “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Joe:
I pray for this student! I am thankful he doesn’t feel called to the mission field. I went to New Orleans to experience that mission field. No, I never served in a student pastorate, but I found ways to minister in my church and other ventures, both Baptist and those not related to a church. New Orleans Seminary needs to be proud of the graduates who serve local churches everywhere, but also for those Chaplain, Social Workers, Counselors, Missionaries and others who learned about ministry and applied both in New Orleans and elsewhere. Many of these “other ministers serve in places other than local churches. Yes, the city left plenty to be desired, but there were opportunities to serve the Lord, and not just lament about being stranded in Babylon. There are plenty of opportunities to minister. Just look, and God may even direct you to your life time ministry!
So student, please examine your call. You will find sinful, hurting people someday. Tod bad you will not know how to minister to them. You could have learned how in New Orleans.
Joe, I have been inspired and compelled to pray earnestly for you in your ministry and New Orleans…especially the upcoming Graham revival.
If you had done nothing more than being effective in your call for prayer for your city and ministers, you have undoubtedly pleased your Lord.
I am not a minister, I am an eighty-year-old woman (originally from Pineville, La) who gave her heart to the Lord in Louisiana and has tried to serve Jesus Christ wherever the Lord sent us, during my husband’s thirty year career as an Air Force pilot, and also since retirement. I think your message to the student pastor was appropriate and a good lesson for all of us who read it.
I share your messages with others and their lives have also been impacted. I know how much time it take to write and I appreciate your discipline to take the time to do it. (I wrote a column for Baptist Press in the sixties). Thank you for sharing your messages with people like me. In His Name, Ginny
The persecution of Christians in ancient Rome resulted in diaspora, which spread the gospel of our Lord around the then-known world. When Jesus told his disciples, “Go and make disciples in all the nations. . ” I don’t think they had a clue that it would be the horror of persecution which whould insure that they did so.
How wonderful it would be if the diaspora of the citizens of New Orleans would bring that much light and love to the world!
As you know, Joe, I’ve always believed that the Lord doesn’t deliberately bring disaster, but that He is expert at using the garbage that happens to bring about wonderful things. Yes, I believe New Orleans has a future (if the politicians will permit it), and I believe it can be a wonderful one by the grace of God. “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Yes, it is about God.
As for the student, may he learn about the love of God and God’s desire that we exercise that love by sharing it with others.
Thank you Bro. Joe. for I know you care.
“People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
You have been a blessing to me personally and to my family in so many ways.
May you and Mrs. Margaret be blessed today.
Gloria
Brother Joe,
Your comment was right on target-neither too harsh or too easy on this young minister. As a life long resident of south Louisiana, I am forever indebted to those who have left “Bible belt” for the land of diversity of religion, race, and frequently rauchiness! But isn’t that who Jesus came and died for? Keep on writing – I for one love it and look forward to reading your insight into what is going on in New Orleans! May the Lord continue to keep His hand on you. Forever grateful- Gail
Please count me among those who have fond memories of New Orleans. You can also count me among those who understand the (often) harsh realities regarding New Orleans. Harsh realities notwithstanding–I still miss New Orleans and hope the current challenges turn into an opportunity for God’s Kingdom to be seen a powerful in that city. Ken Taylor was my professor for personal evangelism, he has a great love for the people in that city.