Demolitions and Dedications

I used to drive down Elysian Fields toward town, through the deserted neighborhood and past the out-of-business Lowe’s and think, “If that store can ever get back up, it will be situated for more business than they ever dreamed.” Eventually they did, and now comes word that this store is number one in sales among the 1,395 Lowe’s in the USA.

Furthermore, this week crews started demolishing the once-glamorous Lake Forest Mall on Interstate 10 in East New Orleans where a new Lowe’s will soon go up. I recall bringing our children to that mall when we were visiting here in the early 1970s and the entire center section had been turned into an ice skating rink. It was so glorious in this tropical city. In recent years, the mall had fallen onto hard times along with much of New Orleans East and the anchor stores moved out long before Katrina put the mall out of its misery on August 29, 2005.

Speaking of demolitions, they’re tearing down the Frostop on Jefferson Highway a few blocks west of Ochsner’s. This drive-in was once the hot spot for teens and families enjoying an outing. A new highrise apartment building will go up where that strip mall stood for decades. Local historians say this was the first shopping center of its kind in Jefferson Parish and was all the rage in the 1950s.

Progress, I reckon. Most of the stores in that strip have been closed for ages. My favorite art supply place was there however, and I’ve been known to run by the Frostop for a frozen mug of root beer.

Liz Curtis Higgs is coming to New Orleans. This has to be the funniest female on the planet, and she’s a terrific Christian writer/speaker to boot. She’s written bestselling books (like “Bad Girls of the Bible” for one) and goes everywhere speaking. “Embrace Grace” they’re calling her two day visit to the First Baptist Church of New Orleans, March 9 and 10 (7 to 9 pm Friday night and all day Saturday). To register or for more information, e-mail Judi Jackson: judijackson@mindspring.com. Sorry, guys–women only.

More building dedications coming up, I’m glad to announce. The “new” New Covenant Baptist Mission, now occupying the facility that was formerly Woodmere Baptist Church, will be holding its service on Sunday afternoon, February 25, at 3 pm. They’re located at 3145 Alex Korman in Harvey, and Pastor Thomas Glover says you’re invited.

Then, a few days later, the “renewed and redirected” FBC of Norco will hold its dedication on Saturday, March 3, at 11 am. Pastor Rudy French wants you there to rejoice with this congregation.


Couple of announcements about Operation NOAH Rebuild came out of our Wednesday pastors meeting. Tobey Pitman, who has been project coordinator since its inception, is moving to the Northshore to help my fellow directors of missions Lonnie Wascom and Joe Baugh set up a similar operation for the rebuilding that will be going on there. Our meeting passed a motion of appreciation unanimously for Tobey’s faithful service.

Many will recall that Tobey Pitman directed the work of the Brantley Center on Magazine Street downtown, a block or two from Canal Street, sheltering the homeless and reaching many for Christ over a great many years. Since that building is no long inhabitable, this ministry has ended. In a sense we could call it one more Katrina victim.

Steve Gahagan, NOAH’s construction coordinator, introduced three guests from South Carolina who are in town to scout the situation and will be taking the “three-hour tour” this afternoon. They plan to bring 400 volunteers the week of July 14. I told these brothers how much we are indebted to the Palmetto State Baptists for a lot of reasons, but especially for sending Steve and Dianne Gahagan our way, as well as Steve and Ann Corbin, our MSC missionaries with Global Maritime.

Our weekly pastors meeting was attended by almost 50 Wednesday, and began with the monthly “executive committee” meeting. John Galey, vice-moderator, presided. The major busines we enacted was to approve a grant of $10,000 from our Ed Wood Foundation to the El Camino (Spanish) Baptist Mission which is relocating from deep inside the commercial district of Metairie to 124 Trudeau, just off Airline Drive in Metairie. Right behind the Burger King. Great place for a church, I reckon.

I used to worry about El Camino. They were located on a short, dead-end street in a section of nothing but stores and offices, and not one residence within a half mile. Now, they’ll be on a busy thoroughfare with home in every direction. Thomas Lowrie is their bilingual pastor.

Administrative Committee chairman Scott Smith announced that his group had approved a financial request from our Women in Ministry team who are scheduling an all-day affair for the ministry wives (how to say this? the wives of all ministers, but also any women involved in ministerial level work in our churches) for Saturday, May 12. The team is composed of Terry Dixon, Kathy Frady, and Rebecca Hughes. Another women only thing. Sorry, guys! You have a meeting every Wednesday. We need to give the ladies an opportunity to get together.

We handed out a pre-Katrina list of our churches–all 145 of them, including the missions–and then went down the list one by one, marking through those no longer in operation. When we finished, we counted 92 churches and missions. Three months ago, we had 85, so we’re gradually getting back up. Bear in mind that none of these churches were unaffected by the hurricane and the population upheaval that followed. Some are still meeting in other churches or in renovated fellowship halls or even in homes. If they’re meeting at all, we count them.

Freddie Arnold cautioned our pastors that, “If your church has received a grant from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, you need to keep excellent records of every penny spent. This is serious business and there must be strict accountability.” He added, “We fear that some churches will be in trouble because of sloppy bookkeeping, and know of one case where a former pastor may end up in legal difficulties.”

Seminary student Christine Gregg sat in on our pastors meeting. From Mansfield, LA, this former IMB Journeyman to Botswana is enrolled in Ken Taylor’s Urban Missions class at the seminary. He has been urging the students to visit one of our weekly sessions. During lunch, I sat down beside her. “So, what is your reaction to what you saw and heard today?” She said, “I plan to go back and tell my classmates that this is the heart of the rebuilding in this city, that if they want to know how to plug in and make a difference, this is the meeting to attend.” We assured her that they will all be welcome.

Warren Jones of the Ninth Ward’s New Salem Baptist Church had the final word. “When I started the church back after the hurricane, we had one person there. Now, we’re up to 102.” He was smiling big.

One thought on “Demolitions and Dedications

  1. Joe, I am so glad you were able to visit with Christine Gregg. I was the Minister to Students at FBC, Mansfield the year after she graduated from Baylor and prepared to go to Botswanna. I always thought that God has a calling on her life and I did my best to encourage her to pursue seminary after Botswanna if she found God leading her so. It was a pleasent surprise to find out from your blog she is at NOBTS. Her parents are wonderful people and I enjoyed serving with her father, Gary. He is a fine musician and loves the Lord! Just in case you did not know, her younger sister Catherine is also serving in ministry and I am blessed to have been her student minister. What made it really special in being part of the Gregg daughters lives was the commissioning service we held for Christine and our youth praise band (w/Catherine in it) lead the music that night…it was special. This is one wonderful family and the legacy they are leaving is serving God with all their hearts (and we miss them)…! Thanks Joe for bring this news to my heart about this godly lady. There are some people you never stop praying for and it was good to hear what God is doing in her life. Tammy and I (and Jesse) will continue to pray for you Christine!

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