Sunday morning, the lay leader of Faith Baptist Church, Calvin Watson, announced that as they were entering their new sanctuary and educational building for the very first time, the church is debt free. This lovely edifice at the corner of South Claiborne and Fern in New Orleans is the culmination of the hopes of this nomadic group of wonderful friends who left the membership of FBC of New Orleans some 7 years ago when the mother church relocated to the Lakeview area. The Faith folks wanted to maintain a witness in the Uptown area. For several years, they worshiped with the First Presbyterian Church, then after Katrina scattered everyone, met with Riverside in River Ridge, and then ever since with Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church on St. Charles Avenue.

Emile Wagner, member of a Catholic church and devoted friend of Faith Church (he’s a lawyer who has helped negotiate the rapids of purchasing the new property; his daughter Lori leads the worship at Faith), told the congregation, “See the wooden pegs coming out from the base of the pews? Those used to hold kneeling rails; the pews are from St. Rita’s Catholic Church.” A few moments before, the congregation had been kneeling at the front altar to dedicate the church and themselves. Emile said, “As a Catholic, it did me good to see us all on our knees!”

During the announcements, Calvin Watson said, “When you enter the bathrooms, look under the door latch and you’ll find the privacy button. Just push that and you’ll have privacy. When you turn the latch, it clicks off.” Everyone smiled. I said, “I’ve been coming to Baptist churches all my life and that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that announcement!”

Pastor Tim Searcy preached on the praise passage at the conclusion of Romans 11 and the first two verses of Romans 12, emphasizing the result of our praise and celebrating: we give ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices.

Early Sunday morning, I ran up against a great Bible truth we all need from time to time. As Israel moves toward Canaan, Moses begins to get the Lord’s people mentally ready to face their enemies in battle. He emphasizes that they are not to be afraid (20:1,3), and then he does something really fascinating. He identifies four groups exempt from warfare: anyone who has built a new house and hasn’t dedicated it, anyone who has planted a new vineyard and not eaten of it, anyone engaged to a wife who hasn’t married her yet, and anyone scared out of his wits.

Think of that — if you’re afraid, go on home. You don’t have to fight. (We can easily envision every last member of the military saying, “Okay. See you.”)

Why such a liberal policy concerning the fainthearted? “Lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.” (Deut. 20:8)

Fear is contagious.

But so is faith. Recently, we mentioned here about Pastor Charlie Dale bringing a message from Romans 1:11-12 on this very subject, how Paul longed to see the believers at Rome so they could be strengthened by one another’s faith.

In every church, people of both fear and faith occupy the pews. However, only the people of faith should be entrusted with the leadership.

How we could wish every church took that to heart. Unfortunately, many congregations have mistaken the voice of fear for sanity and reason and experience and have turned over the leadership of the Lord’s work to the fearful and fainthearted.

How would you go about recognizing the fainthearted and fearful among the church leadership? By their words. The scared among us do not want to do anything by faith, are always worried about the economy, want the church to please the world, and are forever dissatisfied with the church’s pastors. They’re afraid financial ruin is just ahead if we build that building, afraid of lawsuits if we invite the community to use the playgrounds, afraid of a bad reputation in the neighborhood if we knock on doors, afraid the church will go under if the pastor leaves (or if he stays, depending on how they’re feeling at the moment). The fearful want to retreat into yesterday and panic at the thought of adopting new technology or innovations.

And what does faith do? It sings a different tune altogether. Faith has its eyes on the Lord, not on man. Faith wants to please God above all. Faith looks for ways to do the impossible. Faith supports its leaders, encourages workers, inspires the discouraged, comforts the hurting, and welcomes outsiders. Faith is flexible and adaptable. It values people more than traditions, love more than things, and is more interested in building a great future than in holding onto its history. Faith’s greatest method is prayer, its greatest strength is Heaven’s power, and — let’s be honest here — its greatest negative is it keeps everyone living on the edge. That’s why fear and faith cannot coexist long. One will always win out.

Faith says, “Let’s do it.” Fear says, “Let’s do it when we can afford it.”

Faith says, “We can do this.” Fear says, “We can do this one day, but not now.”

Faith says, “You’re doing a great job.” Fear says, “Why aren’t you doing better?”

A year or two ago, Matthew and Holly Rollosson moved to New Orleans so he could get his master’s in public health from Tulane. Holly’s father is a Baptist preacher in the Northwest, and he emailed me for suggestions about a church for them. Matt is a Catholic, while Holly grew up playing the piano for her dad’s churches. I suggested Faith Baptist Church for several reasons, but mostly because it’s in their neighborhood.

Sunday morning in the worship service, Holly was playing an inspired offertory identified as “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus’ in the setting of Debussy’s ‘Claire de Lune.'” It was phenomenal. I leaned over to Matt and said, “She is such a blessing to this church.” He said, “Tell her. She needs to hear that.” Wow. Thanks for the reminder, friend. I know not to assume people are aware of the blessing they are to us, and that we need to tell them. But I needed the suggestion.

That’s another thing faith does: it says “Thank you; you are a blessing to me.”