“I love these weekly meetings. I’m not a pastor, but these have meant so much to me. I wouldn’t miss one.” The deacon who spoke those words right after lunch today confirmed what I’ve noticed. The fellowship in these Wednesday pastors gatherings is the main attraction. Our meeting was over at 11:30, it took 20 minutes to get the sanctuary cleared out and to move everyone to the fellowship hall for lunch, and at 12:30, hardly anyone had left. Good sign.

I’m about to do something we’ve not done before. I’m going to tell you who attended today’s pastors gathering.

Jay Adkins, Christoph Bajewski, Anthony & Mel Bellow, Don Campbell, Charlie Dale, Darryl Ferrington, Thomas & Jill Glover, Joe Kay, Brent King, Thuong Le, David Lema, Steve & Ann Corbin, Jennifer (?) America, Keith Manuel, Jose Mathews, James “Boogie” Melerine, Linda Middlebrooks, Larry Miguez, John Charles Murphy, Anthony Pierce, Manuel Ponce’, Dick Randels, Lionel Roberts, Philip Russell, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Craig Ratliff, Wayne Scholle, Oscar Williams, Bob Jackson, Rob Wilton, Yong Nam Shin, Cherry Blackwell, Lawrence Armour, Walker Downs, Brantley Scott, Keith Cating, Jared Pryer, Jerry Darby, Benny Jones, Mary Jessie Lowe, Kay Bennett, Philip Russell, Bryan Russell, Lynn Gehrman, Joe McKeever, and no doubt several others I missed. I did not count heads today, but count 48 names here.

We were missing Freddie Arnold and several pastors who were attending other meetings, specifically with “Operation NOAH Rebuild,” our North American Mission Board project.

Here’s a quick synopsis of Wednesday’s doings….

Bob Jackson and Rob Wilton of the seminary’s MissionLab reported. Originally, ML was geared toward hosting youth groups in the summer and adult groups throughout the year. The seminary staff would house and feed them and find local ministries for them to do and direct their work. These days, it’s adults as well as youth coming in the summertime. They’re booked solid all summer long, and now turning people away. These groups are available for our churches, whether doing surveys, door-to-door visitation or ministry, light construction, painting, VBS, etc. Last summer, the ML staff was 16 strong; presently three people make up the entire team.

Dick Randels of Lakeview Church said, “We’ve had ‘some’ outside help,” implying he could use more. He was thrilled that the state convention had forgiven the church’s loan on their mission, the Canal Boulevard Deaf Church. (The LBC has done that for all our hurricane-affected churches, thrilling a lot of worried people.) Fourteen people from South Main Baptist Church in Houston spent a long weekend helping them rebuild, as did a motorcycle team. “They cleaned and painted the entrance and fellowship hall area,” Dick said, “so we decided to have Palm Sunday services there instead of the home where we’ve been meeting.” They normally have 10 to 20 in the home, but had 38 on Palm Sunday.

Kay Bennett of the Baptist Friendship House caught Dick on his way out–he had to leave early–and insisted he let her know when he needs workers, that she has all kinds of volunteer teams coming in and they would love to assist Lakeview Baptist Church.

After Dick told of buying sheetrock at Home Depot and working with it himself, I asked tentatively, “Dick, how old are you?” He wasn’t letting me off that easily. He said, “How old are you?” I said, “Sixty-six.” He said, “I’m eleven years older than you.” Now, I realize 77 is not a hundred, but still, I asked the pastors, how many of you can see yourselves rebuilding a church at that age. He’s something.

In the foyer, as he was leaving, Dick laughed and said, “Let me show you something.” Thinking I was about to be let in on a secret, I moved in just as he rolled up his sleeve. “Look at that,” he said, showing a bulging bicep. “That’s new,” he said, and we laughed. Hard work will do that.

This was Lawrence Armour’s first Wednesday meeting. His Epiphany Baptist Church location on Bienville is gone. The owner of the building has not invited them to return. “We have 25 to 30 of our people who have returned to the city,” he said, “and know of another 15 to 20 that are expected.”

During the evacuation with 21 church and family members, Lawrence was taken in by the First Baptist Church of Douglasville, Georgia, and treated royally for four solid months. When the University of New Orleans, where Lawrence is a professor, reopened for the Spring semester, they required that each teacher offer at least one class on the campus, so they had to return. He’s teaching four classes online and one on campus. He had congested heart failure while they were in Georgia, he said, but looks great now.

We’re delighted to have Epiphany back, and we’re trying to help them find a location.

Bryan Russell, church architect from Monroe, Louisiana, attended our meeting. After the death of his mother and his youngest child moving off to college, he decided it was time to open a second office. The Lord led him to Hammond where he has been working with the Northshore Associations and my colleague Lonnie Wascom. He passed out materials and made himself available to assist rebuilding churches.

Jared Pryer, helping in the recovery ministry of the First Baptist Church of N.O., announced that they have 450 students coming the last full week of July. He’s inviting our churches to look around their communities and envision ministries these youth could accomplish that would make a difference on everyone involved.

Between our mission centers (Rachel Sims, Carver, Friendship House, Brantley), MissionLab, and First Baptist Church of New Orleans, we have large numbers of youth groups heading our way this summer. The pastors are being asked to find neighborhood and church work they can assist in. We discussed vacation Bible schools, giving out materials door to door, cleaning trash out of streets and parks and apartment complexes, going down the street with weedeaters, and such. This is such a great opportunity, having this influx of young eager helpers, we want to make the most of it. Every person who comes to help us encourages our people.

In Double Springs this weekend, several people told me they had been to the Mississippi Gulf Coast gutting out homes and helping in the rebuilding. I said, “When you are helping them, we take it personally. We’re all in this together. Thank you!”

Lifeway Christian Store manager Brantley Scott invited everyone to the grand opening and rededication of the store this Friday morning at 10 am on the seminary campus. This is a big event, and a blessing just to see it in operation in a section of the city that needs all the encouragement it can find.

Boogie Melerine of Delacroix-Hope church said, “We had 51 in church Sunday. Philip Russell preached for us. And we had three new people. That’s always encouraging. It lets us know that our people are talking about this in the community.” They’re still meeting in that shed in the St. Bernard community. I’m to preach for them on Sunday, May 21. Boogie said, “We’ve got them sitting everywhere–on paint buckets, pickup truck tailgates, you name it.” He laughed and said, “One of our ‘Catholic members’ met the priest last week and told him he was now attending a Baptist church. The priest said, ‘You’ve left the faith.’ The man said, ‘No, the faith left me.’ (Meaning the Catholic church has not reopened down there.) When the priest turned to leave, the man called out, ‘Oh, and Reverend. Pastor Boogie wants to buy your church!'”

Which is not true, of course. He said it as a joke or possibly a little put-down, I’m not sure. It’s the local Presbyterian church Boogie wants.

The good ladies (and a few men) of Oak Park Baptist Church served a delightful lunch of sloppy roast beef po-boys and all the dressing, along with two great (and massive) desserts. The bread pudding was worthy of any restaurant in town.

In our prayer time this morning, one of the pastors thanked God for the “family-ness” we are enjoying in our relationships with each other. That is such an answer to prayer.

I used to grieve after becoming director of missions for our Baptist churches, that there was no togetherness, that everyone was off doing his own thing, that our people hardly knew each other. We have a long way to go, in a journey that conceivably might have no earthly end, but thank you Lord, we’re a lot further down that road than we have ever been before.

To those who pray for us regularly, we say thank you and please bump it up a notch. Some of our churches are struggling with inner problems and major decisions not faced before.