Sunday morning, little First Baptist Church of St. Rose, Louisiana, about 5 minutes west of the New Orleans airport, honored its longtime pastor Rev. W. O. Cottingham and his incredible wife Alpha. They birthed that church in 1959 and led it until the middle of 2005, when they retired for health reasons. Former members, friends, and family drove in from long distances to be there to honor them. W. O.’s cousin and full-time music evangelist Ronnie Cottingham of Mississippi led the worship and sang, and I preached the morning message. The sermon from Hebrews 6:10 was a new one for me, but I think I was more blessed than anyone there. (Ask any preacher. You know when you have one from the Lord!) We printed the outline here a day or two ago.

As the director of missions, I have an unofficial membership in each Southern Baptist church in metro New Orleans, and so try to use that advantage to say something to the churches which almost no one else can. I reminded this congregation that it’s hard for a church to change gears after nearly half a century of the same pastor, and to follow a new leader. “And yet, Larry Pittman is your pastor. He will not do things the way Brother Cottingham did. The question is whether you will let him be himself and lead out.”

In similar situations to this, I frequently tell a church that when I left the First Baptist Church of Kenner in 2004, after 14 years, I was replaced by a 27-year-old pastor, Tony Merida, who had never pastored before. I let that sink in, then add, “In a church business meeting to discuss him, someone said, ‘He doesn’t have any experience.’ Someone else said, ‘Well, he’s about to get some!'” Then I tell them, “And he’s wonderful. He’s my pastor.”

Pray for this church and Pastor Pittman.

Freddie Arnold and Elaine have been in Kentucky and Alabama for the last week or more, attending mission meetings, and have just returned. He wanted to be present to honor the Cottinghams who are the very personification of faithfulness.

Everyone else stayed for lunch and then for a 2 pm service of memories and tributes, but I left to drive downtown where Faith Baptist Church was having a 1:30 pm business meeting and had asked me to moderate the session. Seminarian Arnold Arredondo preached an excellent message, filling in for interim pastor and professor Dr. Tim Searcy who is in Israel with his son and a cadre of fellow seminary profs. They broke for coffee and do-nuts (my kind of church!), then re-convened for the business meeting.

This congregation desperately needs a permanent location. They’ve rented space in several churches over their seven year history, but with the decline in membership due to Katrina’s upheaval of our population–I assured them every other church in our city has been similarly impacted–their leaders admit that if they don’t find a home soon, they may disappear. They had found a small church plant in the general area of uptown where they want to minister. Yet there was no parking, some felt the building was too small, and it would still require a great deal of post-hurricane renovations.

It was a tough decision. The congregation agreed that a vote of 75 percent would be necessary to buy the church. The ‘yea’s’ came to 70 percent, so the motion failed. My heart went out to them. Several of their leaders have worked so hard trying to find the right home for this congregation. Back to square one.

Please pray for Faith Baptist Church, for the Lord to lead them in this matter of a location and their choice of a permanent pastor.

At the seminary alumni luncheon in Lake Charles last Tuesday, someone asked, “What about the public schools in New Orleans?” Sunday, the newspaper answered that question.

The front page shows a huge photo of a devastated classroom, chairs flung in every direction, dried flaky mud two inches thick on everything. The headline reads: “Left to Decay.” Above the photo: “Nearly half of New Orleans’ public schools sit virtually untouched since Hurricane Katrina.” At the bottom of the photo: “Rather than try to salvage anything, the state says it likely will toss out everything–damaged or not.” The classroom is part of the Martin Luther King Middle School.

At the bottom of the front page, another schoolroom picture, this one of computers in disarray. Underneath: “Meanwhile, upstairs, rooms still filled with textbooks, classroom supplies and computers appear undamaged and salvageable. Nearly half of the city’s public schools have yet to be cleaned and gutted, and state officials say they plan to toss out everything after the first of the year.”

Here are the numbers. 53 public schools have reopened in New Orleans since Katrina. But another 52 school buildings have not been touched. A few state-run campuses are either ready for use or under renovation.

The newspaper sent a team of reporters and observers into ten schools in October. They found the buildings wide open and basically unsecured, and the upper floors filled with school supplies worth millions of dollars. So why is all this going to be discarded? Because of the fear of mold and spores that may be injurious to the health of schoolchildren, educational leaders say.

“Loss of common sense,” says one expert. “They’re just afraid of lawsuits.”

With the buildings lying vacant and open, what kind of security is being provided? Almost none. A security firm has been hired only to respond to calls from local residents. And since few people live in some of those neighborhoods, that’s not likely to happen. School officials say there’s no point in providing security since many of the schools will be torn down and perhaps never rebuilt.

Plans call for a firm to be hired soon to begin gutting all the remaining New Orleans public schools early in 2007.

Sad, sad, sad.

More reasons to pray.