One of the most exciting aspects of post-Katrina ministry in our area will take place Saturday, April 8, at the New Orleans Arena when we honor the first-responders. (First responders: those military/law enforcement/firefighter/medical and other people who served this city during the weeks New Orleans was flooded and locked down.) The Baptists of Greater New Orleans & Louisiana will be heading up an all-day affair in the arena for every First-Responder-and-his/her-family we can locate. From 10 am to 4 pm that day, we will have food and games, giveaways, gift bags with Bibles and other goodies, counseling, massages, you name it. Churches are setting up booths manned by their members doing anything they wish, from face-painting the children to giving food, but mainly being a presence to say a hearty ‘thank you’ to these to whom we owe so much. And we’re giving away cars.

Cherry Blackwell is heading up the entire project. What a choice lady she is. Cherry and Ben are locals, Ben being a schoolteacher and part-time minister of music (FBC Norco, right now), and they are Mission Service Corps volunteers. Which is another way of saying they are missionaries responsible for raising their own support. The state convention believes in them so much that Ben and Cherry have been made state-wide directors of the MSC program. When we needed the right person to lead the First-Responders-Event, someone thought of Cherry and everyone instantly agreed. Tuesday afternoon, Cherry’s steering committee met in the conference room of Williams Boulevard Baptist Church in Kenner.

“We have a new car to give away,” she told the group. “Ronnie Lamarque is giving us one, and he has given me permission to use his name in urging other car dealers to give one, too.” The plan at the moment is to have a drawing at the April 8 event, along about 3:30 pm, and some First-Responder will drive home in a new car. If we have two or more cars, we’ll have more drawings earlier.

Anyone wishing to get in on this plan to honor our First-Responders (and all FRers who read this are invited!) may call Cherry at 504 451 9333. Your admission into the Arena that day is by showing your identification badge, whatever identifies you as law enforcement, military, firefighter, or medical emergency worker.

Another missing piece of the post-Katrina puzzle has been found.

The last of our displaced pastors surfaced Tuesday. Mac McGrath, pastor of River’s Edge Church downriver from Chalmette, called. “I’ve tried your office phone number for weeks,” he said, “but apparently you still have no phone.” Right. “Finally, someone suggested I call the state convention and they gave me your cell phone.” Good. “My wife and I are in Cottondale, Alabama. I’m pastoring Oak Grove Baptist Church near here.” They will not be moving back into our area, he said. (I have carried about in my notebook three hundred dollar bills for Mac, ever since the Arkansas Baptist Convention gave us money for our displaced pastors in October. My letter to Mac Tuesday will contain a nice surprise.)

River’s Edge Church will have to be demolished. “We have a little insurance money,” Mac said, “but not enough to rebuild the church.” The congregation has one deacon and he wants to allocate the money to help the churches in St. Bernard Parish rebuild as they are able. I suggested they deed the property over to the association as some others are doing, so we’ll have it when the time comes to re-establish a ministry there. Also, it turns out that the company holding the mortgage on the parsonage was not paying for the flood insurance they should have been paying. We’ve heard that story before.

Mac and his wife have been having health problems. “I have two stents in my heart,” he said, and asked that we add him and Kay to our prayer lists.

At Wednesday’s pastors meeting in LaPlace, we moved into the church’s fellowship hall due to the sanctuary renovations. The church has a weekday school program going on and it gets crowded on Wednesdays, but they’ve always made us welcome. We announced today that we will continue at the LaPlace First Baptist Church throughout April, then for the months of May, June, and July, we’ll hold these meetings with Oak Park Church in the Algiers section of New Orleans. The delay is to give us time to make sure everyone gets the word.

Quick synopsis of the goings-on at Wednesday’s meeting: Eddie Scott told of the Black Church Leadership Week at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina this July. “It’s wonderful discovering there are 2,500 African-American Southern Baptist Churches,” he said. “With one million members.” Gonzalo Rodriguez introduced his visitors from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. His church is serving as lead congregation with the purpose-driven work among Hispanic churches. Gary Mitchell of the state convention encouraged the bi-vocational pastors and promoted the “Empowering Kingdom Leaders” conference coming up soon. Tom Pewitt, chairman of the pastor search committee of Memorial Church, Metairie, asked for prayer for their work and announced their block party this Sunday afternoon. I’ll be there, sketching people under a shade tree somewhere.

Darryl Ferrington urged the pastors to get their librarians lined up for a conference Hope Ferguson of Natchitoches will be leading soon. Jerry Darby gave his endorsement of my “pastoral teaching” from last Wednesday. I had talked with the ministers about making their public invitations more effective by one simple thing: telling the congregation when you rise to preach that you will be extending it and the nature of it. “I did just that and we had a man saved,” he said. “It really worked.”

First Baptist-New Orleans is hosting the sanctuary choir and orchestra of FBC-Jackson, Mississippi (the wonderful church I served as a staffer over 30 years ago) on Sunday evening, April 2 at 6 pm. This is a “concert for New Orleans”–for all of us, for all our churches–and we’re urging the churches to bring their people. Dr. Lavon Gray is the minister of music of that terrific church.

Jared Walley and Philip Vandercook of Global Maritime Ministries are announcing they expect to enter their new Port Ministry Center on Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans in mid-April. The second floor will not be finished yet. “We need $100,000 to finish it,” Philip said. That’s the floor where they are expecting to house volunteer crews coming to help rebuild the city and minister on the docks. Anyone with that much of the Lord’s money wishing to do the right thing should contact Philip at 504 329 0081 or by e-mail philip@portministry.com. Global Maritime is leading a block party in the McDonoghville section of town near a FEMA village where dock workers are living. That’s for Saturday April 1. I’ll be there with my sketch book, too.

Lionel Roberts’ church (St. Bernard Mission, across the street from the housing project of that name) has been adopted by FBC of California, Missouri. “That church has adopted us and church in Puerto Rico,” he said. “They flew my wife and I up there and gave us $10,000 to help rebuild the church. They’re sending a crew down this Saturday and we’re planning to redo the church in one week. Our first worship services will be on Resurrection Sunday!!” Keith Cating repeated, at my request, the story of Krista Wright from Savannah, Georgia, finding the hidden money in the house they were gutting in St. Bernard Parish. “She’s become a celebrity,” he said, “and been on all the network news programs.” And one more thing. Keith said the woman who owned the house, the one whose father had hid that money nearly a half-century ago, has written a check to New Salem Baptist Church in appreciation. Good for her. Keith introduced Van Simmons who heads up the summer missionary program for NAMB.

Rudy French, who with wife Rose is an MSC volunteer from Canada, has been working with Delacroix Hope Church and Pastor Boogie Melerine. “We’ve been going to all the FEMA trailers downriver,” Rudy said, “taking gift bags of toiletries and cookies and so on. It’s a great opportunity to witness.” He said, “Some of the volunteers have never actually shared their faith, so I take them with me and show them how. Like this lady I had a few days ago. She was really timid. So when we got to the trailer with the ‘beware of dog’ sign, she refused to go inside the gate. I was the hot-shot leader, so I said, ‘Come on. I’m not afraid of dogs.’ (Everyone laughed; they could see this coming.) There was a golden retriever and a chihauhau. The retriever was a sweetheart and the chihauhau did what they do–yap, yap, yap. No problem. Then I saw this basset hound coming. I said, ‘Here, boy.’ But that dog was not stopping for anything. I dropped the box and ran. If I had been one day younger, I’d have cleared that fence! But he caught me. I wore the same pants today so you could see. (A hole in the lower pants-leg the size of a quarter.) Then, to make matters worse, the dog marked his territory on the box. A lady came out of the trailer, locked up the dog, and asked me to bring the box up on the porch.” (more laughter)

Incidentally, churches are finding this to be an excellent way of witnessing. Fill gift bags or boxes with toiletries and cookies and Scriptural material, then go to the FEMA trailers.

Boogie and Rudy say all those gift boxes they’re giving away are really heavy. “We need some wagons,” Rudy said. How many? “Six,” said Boogie. We’re talking Radio Flyer kids-type wagons for hauling the boxes door to door.

Speaking of witnessing, Calvary’s Keith Manuel told of a Florida group staying in the FEMA base camp in Algiers who ride the ferry across the river every day to work in St. Bernard Parish. “They’ve led all sorts of people to the Lord,” he said. “It’s a rare trip across the river when they don’t lead someone to Christ.”

Joe Williams talked of the fatigue–not just hurricane fatigue or compassion fatigue or ministry fatigue–just plain old tiredness that assails everyone in the ministry from time to time. Joe will be leading day-long sessions for pastors and wives in a few days to give them resources for dealing with fatigue. One thing I’ve noticed is how quick-tempered people down here are getting due to the stress and exhaustion. Like last night late. We were bedded down, Margaret was sound asleep. Some young people pulled into our next door neighbor’s driveway and blew the horn several times. Since our houses are about 15 feet apart (really), the horn might as well have been in our hallway. I’m about to make a confession here.

My first inclination was to take a hammer and walk outside and bust the headlights of that car. Fleshly, I know, but so satisfying. I sent up a quick plea for the Father’s help in this and walked out to the car. It was filled with young adults. I motioned for the driver, a young woman, to roll down the window. She did so reluctantly, perhaps knowing what was coming. I said, “Hi. I’ll bet you are a nice person.” Not what she expected. I told her my wife was asleep in “that room right there,” and that her horn had awakened her, and she would be two hours getting back to sleep. She muttered a soft, “I’m sorry.” I said, “Okay,” and went in. Sure enough, Margaret was stirring and had trouble returning to sleep.

I had no trouble sleeping. I had broken out no headlights, and the Lord had given me a soft answer for someone who deserved a rebuke. That’s why…

That’s when I know someone is praying for me. When you find the strength to do something not in your own nature, to do the right thing when your inclination is to do the other, someone is praying.

We need your prayers for our First-Responders’ Event. We need your prayers for our churches that are bringing the gospel to their neighborhoods, and for the volunteers from everywhere coming to help us rebuild. We need your prayers for our ministers.

“Father, make us strong. Give us courage. Grant us wisdom. Do your work through us, please. Amen.”