Eddie Painter has been pastor of Barataria Baptist Church in the little town of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, for one year now, and the attendance has doubled. Tonight, the church is electing a building committee to plan additional space. I think I saw today how everything is coming together.

Get your map down. Jean Lafitte is hard to find, as the U.S. government and the State of Louisiana discovered in the 1810s. The privateer–first cousin to a pirate–lived down in Barataria Bay with his gang of cutthroats and brigands and their families. I seriously doubt if anyone knows to this day exactly where they made their headquarters since so much of the land mass that made up the wetlands this far south is now underwater. Historians tell us Lafitte had a wealth of supplies which his men had taken off enemy ships, much of which was then slipped into the black market of New Orleans. Initially, Andrew Jackson rejected any thought of involving Lafitte in the defense of New Orleans until he saw the man had what he needed: experienced fighting men with lots of firepower. Jean Lafitte came out of the Battle of New Orleans a hero.

“The school down here is supposed to be one of the best anywhere,” Eddie Painter said. He and his wife Lisa have two teenage daughters, Ellie and Angel. “We love this place.”

“In the early service this morning, we had 34,” Eddie told me at church. The 11 o’clock service which I attended was filled, easily 65 to 70. The music was all hymns–“What a Friend,” “In the Garden,” and “I Am Thine, O Lord”–but the pianist and organist played them double time and the congregation sang out lustily.

When Eddie rose to welcome everyone, he said, “I have an announcement to make: I have bought a pair of white boots.” Everyone laughed. These are the rubber boots which shrimpers and other fishermen wear on the boats to guard against the slippery decks. Status symbols in this part of the world.

“And this week, I got my commercial fishing license!” That did it. Laughter and applause. “I’m on my way to becoming a permanent resident!” Cheering.

Eddie Painter is a Mississippian, a military veteran, and a seminary student. Even though New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary lies 35 miles to the northeast, on the far side of downtown New Orleans and hard to get to, Eddie and Lisa moved their family into the parsonage behind the church. “I’ll finish seminary with my bachelor’s degree the same year Angel graduates from high school.” After that, he said, Lisa plans to join him and both work on master’s degrees at the same time.

Eddie read his Scripture for the sermon, James 1:13-18, on “The Nature of Temptation.” The only time he stepped behind the pulpit was to tweak the laptop sitting there holding his sermon notes that were projected onto the screen behind his head. Otherwise, he was on one side or the other of the pulpit.

Establishing the perverse nature of temptation, Eddie told how discovering he was a diabetic threw a new set of cravings on him. “Until then, I’d never been much into sweets. I’m a red meat and potatoes kind of guy. But once the doctor said I had to quit eating sweets, I started wanting them. I couldn’t get them out of my mind.” He smiled and said, “Tell someone he can’t have something and that’s the very thing he wants.”

“The problem of temptation,” he said, “is a fallen heart.” The secret of temptation, he continued, is that it’s fun for a season, then it turns sour. The enemy never tells you that.

Staying with his text, Eddie said, “The key to overcoming temptation is the steadfastness of God.”

What made the sermon special is that Eddie Painter looked the people in the eyes and talked to them. He smiled, he laughed, he told stories on himself, and he thoroughly identified with the people.

Eddie is no visitor to Jean Lafitte, Louisiana. He is a resident.

“We want to build a house down here,” he said. “It’s just so expensive. That’s why I’m taking up crabbing.”

According to him, you lay the traps and make the rounds the first thing in the morning. “You can be back in the house by 8 o’clock and be through for the day.” With the prices crabs bring, over a dollar per pound, he can do well. “The big expense is the traps.” How about the boat? “I already have my boat.”

Matthew Green is the youth pastor of the church and likewise a seminary student. He and wife Angie have a two-month-old son Nate. He can’t wait to move down to Jean Lafitte. “I tell Eddie to build him a house and let us have the parsonage!”

“Eddie and I met on campus,” Matt says. “He knew I was the one for this church when he saw my boat on top of the jeep.”

Two fishermen pastoring in Barataria Bay. Does the Lord know how to pick them?

Matthew said, “This is the most loving congregation. We were 8 months pregnant when we interviewed for this job, and the women on the committee said we need to hurry on down here so they could give Angie a shower.” He told how on her first Sunday back at church after Nate’s birth, the church surprised them with a shower for the baby. The only clue Matt had that this was coming was when Eddie called him and said, “Don’t drive your pickup to church. Bring the jeep.” He would be hauling baby gifts home.

If I’ve ever seen two ministers at home in a church setting, these are the ones.

Deacon Pat Henderson and his wife sat downrow from me in the morning service. He leaned over and said, “Things are going great. He’s been here a year now, and there is not the first whiff of discontent out of anyone. It’s great.”

I thought for a brief second about reminding Pat that when the time comes that some are unhappy with him, as it will, that does not mean God is not pleased with the pastor’s work. Some church conflict is not a bad thing, every once in a while. But, remembering some of the storms which the deacons have ridden out under past leadership, I could appreciate how he’s enjoying the peace and love.

Bayou Des Familles restaurant lies five miles up the highway toward New Orleans. Margaret and I have eaten there before. It’s a little pricey, but lots of atmosphere and excellent cuisine. Today, I took Eddie and Lisa Painter to lunch there, along with Ellie and Angel and their friend Kathryn, and Matthew and Angie Green. Baby Nate didn’t eat a thing.

“Where are you from?” I asked Matt Green. “Alabama.” Where in Alabama? “Jasper.” I laughed. “I’m from Nauvoo.” He couldn’t believe it. (Nauvoo lies at the edge of Walker County, of which Jasper is the county seat. The whole area is home for my family, going back many generations.)

Matt keeps making these connections. When he told his director of missions, Lucky Teague, back in Alabama that he had been called as youth minister at Barataria Baptist Church, Lucky said, “That was my seminary pastorate! I love that place!”

Regular readers of this blog may recall something we noted here a year or 18 months ago. I told how 76-year-old Dr. Bill Rogers, recently retired from New Orleans’ Grace Baptist Church, was invited to preach at a church down in the boonies. After going to a restaurant for lunch, he spent the afternoon in the church office, reading old records. He found that in the history of the church–perhaps 50 years, I’d have to find the article–the church had had 20 pastors. Bill said, “If you consider there is always a few months between pastors as they are finding the next one, that figures out to about 2 years each.”

Then he said, “You know, Joe, it takes two years at least for a man to become the pastor of a church after he arrives.” He was quiet for a moment, then said, “That church has not had 20 pastors. They’ve had 20 preachers.”

The church he referred to was Barataria Baptist Church in Jean Lafitte.

They’ve got a pastor now. He’s Eddie Painter. I’m praying he will stay with his vision of becoming a part of that community and remaining with them a long time. It will be interesting to see what the Lord does.

I did a caricature of him telling the congregation, “Our Lord said, ‘Follow me and I will make you crabbers of men!'”