Joe McKeever

The Churches of New Orleans -- Two Years After The Fall

(Note: I wrote this report on the status of our N.O. churches at the request of the Baptist Message, our weekly newspaper for Louisiana Baptists. It will appear in the August 30 edition, one day after the second anniversary of Katrina.)

Before Katrina made landfall on Monday, August 29, 2005, the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans (BAGNO) could count some 140 churches and missions. One month later, when we re-entered the area, we were able to identify 35 still operating. Today, two years after this life-changing event, we’re up to 94.

"So, are your churches back to normal and operating?" is the question I field most often. The answer is, "Some are. Some are doing great. Some are gone forever. Some are meeting in someone’s living room or in someone else’s buildings. But all have been affected deeply and are changed forever."

Most of the churches we lost were small congregations or young missions. When the floodwaters devastated their neighborhoods and ruined their buildings and scattered their members, the smaller and more vulnerable congregations quickly ceased to exist. Only the stronger ones managed to pull enough of the scattered members back together to resume services in one form or another.

In many respects, this association is a microcosm of the Southern Baptist Convention. We have churches in every category you can think of -- displaced, struggling, normal, and flourishing. Most of the stronger, more successful congregations are those that moved quickly after the storm to establish ministry in their neighborhoods.

By "displaced," we mean those that no longer able to meet in their original buildings. These include Free Mission which meets at the association’s center, FBC Chalmette and St. Bernard which meet together at the local high school, Franklin Avenue which meets at FBC New Orleans, New Vision meeting with FBC Luling, Good News with FBC Destrehan, and some meeting in homes, such as One Faith, Canal Boulevard Deaf, and Faithful Community.

Freddie Arnold, associate director of missions and NAMB church planter missionary, and I sat down recently and went over the entire list of churches and missions, assigning them to the various categories to the best of our knowledge. As with any church, conditions change frequently, but this is the situation as we know it at the moment.

While every one of our churches lost members after the hurricane, with some watching large numbers of key leaders depart, some are struggling worse than others. In the "Struggling" category, we list Shiloh, St. Rose FBC, United FBC, Valence Street, Allen Temple, Beacon, New Salem, Christian Light, Cosmopolitan, Epiphany, Hahnville, Noah’s Ark, Berachah Haitian, Solid Rock, Genesis, Airline, Bridge City, Carrollton Avenue, Calvary Korean, Christian Fellowship, Gentilly/Elysian Fields, Getsemani Spanish, Good News, Memorial, New Testament, New Vision, Norco FBC, Pontchartrain, Port Sulphur, Edgewater, Rio Vista, Urban Family, and Evangelistic.

In the category we call "Flourishing -- but with issues," which means these are doing well, but in many cases are still working on their buildings or have had a large turnover of leadership. These include Celebration, Williams Boulevard, Good Shepherd Spanish, Metairie, Haitian FBC, Spanish American FBC, Vietnamese FBC, Westwego, New Covenant, Delacroix Hope, Poydras, and Horeb Spanish. A new startup church called Sojourn on Magazine Street we put in this group.

The "Normal" churches -- those who lost members and may have had some hurricane damage but which are carrying on well -- include Riverside, Suburban, Vieux Carre’, Waggaman, West Marrero, Deliverance, Living Water, Loving Four, Ebenezer Spanish, El Camino Spanish, Korean FBC, La Vina Spanish, Nueva Vida, New Orleans FBC, New Hope, Chinese FBC, Christ, Crossroads, Destrehan FBC, Grace, Highland, Irish Channel, Kenner FBC, Korean Agape, Lakeside, Parkview, Emmanuel Spanish, LaPlace FBC, Luling FBC, West St. Charles, Belle Chasse FBC, Ames Boulevard, Avondale FBC, Barataria, Calvary, Marrero FBC, and Oak Park.

Four of our smaller congregations are struggling with the loss of members and the remaining members being older. Faith, Lakeview, Gretna FBC, and Bridgedale churches are all facing difficult decisions about their future.

At our pastors meeting on Wednesday, August 22, one week before the second anniversary of Katrina, we asked church representatives present to give us reports on their congregations.

Gentilly Baptist Church (merged with Elysian Fields) is running about 50 in attendance and has started two new women’s Bible studies. Ken Taylor, pastor.

Hahnville Church runs 30 on Sundays and had 25 saved in their community recently when a visiting church team went into the community. Anthony Bellow, pastor.

Good News runs 35 to 40 and is constructing a new building in the 8th ward. Oscar Williams, pastor.

Celebration Church is running 1800-1900 and hit 2486 on the back-to-school Sunday. They are still rebuilding the flooded Airline campus and recently completed the renovation of their retail space. Celebration has campuses in St. Bernard on the former site of FBC Arabi and in LaPlace at the former Woodland Baptist Church. Dennis Watson, pastor.

Grace runs 40 and baptized a teenager Sunday. Charlie Dale, pastor.

Suburban runs 75-80 and is hosting a startup for a new Vietnamese mission. Jeffery Friend, pastor.

Urban Family runs 17 and meets with Valence Street Baptist Church. They own a ministry building in the 9th Ward from which they reach out. Kemp Johnson, Pastor.

Delacroix Hope averages 70 and is restoring the Creedmore Presbyterian Church building which was donated for their use. James Melerine, pastor.

Gretna FBC runs 50 and is retraining their leadership. Wayne Scholle is interim pastor.

New Covenant runs 50 and has baptized 14 since March. Thomas Glover, pastor.

Barataria is running 80 and gearing up for a major outreach event in November. Eddie Painter, pastor.

Chinese FBC is running 120. Hong Fu Liu, pastor.

One Faith meets in a home on Wednesday nights and runs 25. Pastor Jerry Darby lives in Alvin, Texas, and pastors a church there.

Epiphany meets in the former campus of Village de L’est and runs 45. Lawrence Armour, pastor.

Deliverance meets in their own building and runs about 125. They’re having extraordinary growth. Jessie Magee, pastor.

Kenner FBC has just called Professor Mark Tolbert as interim and is running 350. One profession of faith Sunday.

Edgewater is running 80, meeting in their fellowship hall. They are presently without a pastor.

Memorial runs 40, in fellowship hall. Jackie Gestes, pastor.

Shiloh is running 60 with their new pastor Michael Raymond, who lost his church in the lower 9th ward.

New Orleans FBC is running 450. The church is leading out in the Baptist Crossroads ministry of building 60 new homes a year in the 9th Ward. David Crosby, pastor.

Two buildings formerly used by Hopeview in St. Bernard and Lake Forest in New Orleans East have been turned into facilities for the rebuilding work of our city. Hopeview can host up to 150 people per night and is now the NAMB site for church teams coming to work here. Lake Forest’s buildings are used for storage of materials.

At every opportunity, we urge people to keep praying for the rebuilding of this city and the restoration of our churches to a "new normal." We have no wish and no plans to return to the level of dedication, involvement, effectiveness of pre-Katrina days. We believe and urge our friends to believe with us that God has big plans for His people called to live and serve in this city.

A verse we keep returning to is something God told Israel in Babylon during the days of their exile. "Work for the welfare of the city where I have sent you... and pray on its behalf. For, as it prospers, you will prosper." (Jeremiah 29:7)