So, you’re coming to New Orleans, are you? Great! This city loves guests, and the welcome mat is always out.

NOTE: With this, we are beginning a series of brief articles on the subject of VISITING NEW ORLEANS. The instigator was a request for such from various SBC publications in preparation for the annual Southern Baptist meeting to be held in our convention center June 2012.

Yesterday, over lunch with two people from our Baptist Press office (located in Nashville), I learned that this was the first visit to New Orleans for one and only the second for the other. Laura said, “But the first time was for a ball game. We didn’t see much of the city.”

I wish they’d had longer than the 90 minutes yesterday. There are so many places I would love to take them. Having lived in metro New Orleans since 1990–plus, I attended seminary here in the 1960s and early 1970s–I’ve learned to love this city dearly and to enjoy pointing out little known eateries, shops, and historic points.

Before sharing about some of my favorite New Orleans places, sights, and people, let me address three misconceptions which may be helpful for anyone coming this way.

1. The city is wholly given to wickedness.

As with any city in America, there is wickedness here. But there is also sin in Jasper, Alabama, in Columbus, Mississippi, and in Charlotte, North Carolina (three of my favorite non-New Orleanian places).

Wickedness of certain types is more open here, at least in places.

But New Orleans has hundreds of wonderful churches of all denominations and multiplied thousands of Christian people who love Jesus Christ as much as anyone you know. (I once heard someone comment that in the way a jeweler displays his diamonds against a black velvet backdrop, the Lord’s people have a way of shining brighter when contrasted with the wickedness around them.)

We Baptists have some wonderful congregations here. (We’ll be mentioning some of them in subsequent articles.) Why, we even have one in the French Quarter. The Vieux Carre’ Baptist Church is located at 721 Dauphine Street, one block north of Bourbon Street.

A friend told me of a religious fellow who got off a plane in our city and instantly remarked how he could “feel” the decadence here. I suspect he was being repulsed at his own self-righteousness, but that’s just my opinion.

2. The Catholics control everything.

They control a lot, to be sure. But they got here first, planted their institutions deep, and have held on through the ups and downs of a lot of history. (We non-Catholics do celebrate their commitment to the sanctity of life, among other values.)

Soon after Lord Bienville stepped off the boat onto the high ground later to be called the French Quarter (1718) and announced this is where the new capital of the Louisiana Territory would be built, Catholic institutions began arriving from France. In August of 1727, nuns from the Ursuline order arrived to set up schools. Ursuline Academy is still going strong today, although if you check the i.d. of its staff, you’ll find quite a few Baptists and others in their employ.

St. Louis Cathedral is an icon of this city, and deserves to be. The present structure was built in 1789, replacing two others on that site, a flimsy wooden structure and one destroyed by fire.

There are tales of Catholic persecution of early Protestant missionaries who came here to preach. One Baptist worker arrived with a carton of Bibles to give out on the streets, and found the going rough. In six weeks, he had handed out only ten Bibles.

These days, the fields are fertile and, as thousands of Baptist volunteers found out in the months and years following Katrina, the people are open to the gospel when presented in love. The New Orleans Baptist Association (NOBA) is made up of some 105 churches and missions, with new churches being planted regularly. The anchor of our work here is the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, located in the Gentilly neighborhood, birthed in 1917 and presently one of the strongest such institutions in the world.

Baptists celebrate the religious diversity of this city, but will take a back seat to no one when it comes to loving New Orleans and praying for its welfare (Jeremiah 29:7).

3. The French Quarter is decadent and dangerous and should be avoided.

Dr. Tobey Pitman, who directed Southern Baptists’ ministry to the homeless (the Brantley Center) for many years, used to tell visitors that Bourbon Street is not the entire French Quarter. Much of this historic area is filled with residences, world-class restaurants, antique shops, boutiques, and music clubs.

Yesterday, as I write, I drove down Bourbon Street, something I had not done in a year or more. And yes, the strip clubs are there as they have always been. Interspersed with them are famous eating places like Galatoire’s and “normal” shops. Even so, we should rate the street “X” and be careful about venturing down it.

Royal Street is filled with antique shops. The French Market on Decatur Street is the oldest such in the U.S.A., we’re told, and deserves your attention. At the upper end of it you will find Cafe Du Monde where you must try out the beignets (ben-yays) and cafe au lait (simply coffee with milk), a local delicacy.

Drive around the Quarter. You will know in a heartbeat, “You’re not in Birmingham any more.”

When I was in seminary, a group of us came down to the French Quarter to preach on the streets every Friday night. Yesterday, I saw one preacher with a bullhorn proclaiming the message on Canal Street, the first preacher I’ve seen down here in a while. He was calling out, “I want you to know God loves you, friend.” It was a good sermon.

The city is going strong after Katrina. The people are friendly and the restaurants are as good as you will find any place on earth. In subsequent articles, I’ll recommend a few of my favorites.