New Orleans Churches
They sang from a screen fueled by a borrowed generator. They hugged friends and waved to others across the sanctuary. And they asked the all-important post-hurricane question: "How did you do?" It was the first time that First Baptist Church — significantly smaller in number but no less enthusiastic — met for worship since Hurricane […]
New Orleans-area church ready for next post-Katrina challenges
BOUTTE, La. (BP)--The kitchen is closed.
New Orleans churches struggle to resume worship & ministry
Back in church Becky Boykin and Renee Page greet each other at First Baptist Church in New Orleans during the first worship service since Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Sherri Brown |
It was the first time that First Baptist Church -- significantly smaller in number but no less enthusiastic –- met for worship since Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans.
The church is built up enough so that the floodwaters stopped at its doorstep. But the church didn’t escape damage. Winds ripped away about a third of one building. Rain poured into Sunday School classrooms. Offices and church records were destroyed. Parts of the buildings that escaped damage soon showed signs of growing black mold. Weeks after the storm, there is still no electricity.
“Everything around us stood in four to six feet of floodwater for weeks. The grass is dead, the trees are dying,” said David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist.
But when the first worship service since Katrina was held Oct. 9, Crosby offered a prayer of thanks to “the God of storm and wind and rain.” First Baptist New Orleans will recover, but many other churches in the area may not.
Rope in hand in Calgary, evangelist lassos new believers
Texas evangelist Ronnie Hill decided to take a team to witness at the Stampede. He has ridden horses all his life and competed in roping events for the last 15 years. But as an evangelist his passion is to preach to lost people.
In the last Canadian census, the fastest-growing religion was “no religion.” According to North American Mission Board statistics, China has more Christians than Canada.
Disaster relief rejuvenating 50-year-old Louisiana church
That’s exactly what Riverside Baptist Church looks like. The River Ridge church, just outside of New Orleans, has been feeding 1,500 to 2000 people every day for the past three weeks. Volunteers plan to continue feeding until November.
“We’ve got a crazy, eclectic group of people working here,” said Jim Caldwell, pastor of the church.
When Caldwell returned to the city and found the church’s facilities in fairly good shape, he envisioned the location as a food and water distribution center. He called the Louisiana Baptist Convention but help wasn’t immediately available in the post-hurricane days.
Prof: Flood damage at residences ‘impossible to comprehend’
NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Instead of heading for the library to study for classes, Justin Langford and his wife, Melinda, spent the weekend sorting through the mud and mold in their New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary apartment, trying to salvage pieces of their lives.
Kelley: Flooded seminarians ‘working to heal one another’
“This is something no one could imagine. There’s no book for this, no path for this,” Kelley said after returning to the campus to help students and faculty dig through flooded houses and mud-covered possessions.
“Driving through this city is like driving through a Hollywood science fiction set,” he said.
Kelley, whose house on campus was not flooded, returned Oct. 5 when the campus first opened to faculty and students wanting to return to salvage what they could from their campus houses. He spent the next several days, dressed in a T-shirt and work pants, walking from house to house.
New Orleans pastors continue to share burdens & challenges
NEW ORLEANS (BP)--A call to faithfulness was sounded as 40 pastors and church staff members in the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans met Sept. 28.
Chaplains tackle hurricane aftermath via listening & prayer
LONG BEACH, Miss. (BP)--The 20-something woman carried a box filled with mismatched coffee cups. She held them out to the disaster relief volunteers in Long Beach, Miss.
Pastor’s secret recipes fortify disaster relief volunteers
Pastor’s recipe Pastor and former restaurant owner Johnny Rayford pours clam chowder he made for volunteers at the hurricane-ravaged First Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Photo by Sherri Brown |
Rayford immediately gathered all the equipment he would need and headed south. But his truck wasn’t loaded with chain saws, cleaning supplies or water.
Rayford, pastor of Crestwood New Life Church in Jackson, Miss., brought cooking pots, four portable gas burners, propane tanks, a pile of spices and boxes of food and ended up at First Baptist Church in Bay St. Louis, Miss., doing one of the things he does best.