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Everyone around here observes the 29th of each month as a Katrina anniversary. Not with parties, of course, but only marking one more month since life changed forever.
We've been under tornado watches since Saturday evening. Sunday morning, weathercasters were urging people in St. Bernard Parish to get into secure housing. I suppose that means leave your FEMA trailer and go into the gutted out, empty house next door for security from high winds or even tornadoes. We're thankful for the needed rain.
Saturday, residents of Kenner ousted their mayor. Muniz won over Capitano, by something like 52% to 48%. Veteran police officer Steve Caraway was elected chief over P.J.Hahn, who was seen as an administrator. Everyone agrees the voters in this New Orleans suburb are tired of the constant bickering between council and mayor, chief and mayor, and other groups.
Next Sunday, May 7 and then Monday the 8th, I'll be accomplishing a personal first: preaching in a Methodist Church. After the Saturday night high school reunion at Double Springs, Alabama, the next morning I'll preach at the local Methodist church for their 11 am service, their 6 pm service that night, and the next evening at 6 pm. And later in the month, I'll be preaching in a United Methodist church in another part of Alabama. So, this is my year, I guess.
My mom says, "How did this happen?" I tell her that our high school class team leader Sally Moody recommended me to the Pastor Albert Rivera of the Double Springs church. And my college roommate, George Gravitte, who lives across the county at Haleyville, now retired from pastoring UMC churches, added his recommendation. Presumably, what they said is that "Joe's safe." (We'll see.)
Pastor Joseph Blanchard of the (New Orleans) First Haitian Baptist Church came by our associational offices one day this week. He's bivocational and drives a taxi in the week. Anyway, that church is having a week of revival services the week of June 4 with a different preacher each night, and he invited me to preach that Sunday night. He said, "Our theme is Ezra 10:13." I could not remember what that verse was and even after looking it up, had no clue how that suggested a revival theme. The first half of the verse reads: "But there are many people, and it is the rainy season. We don't have the stamina to stay out in the open." Joseph said, "Our theme is: 'It's Time to Come Inside.'" He smiled and added, "It's bad outside. Time to come in to Christ." I love it.
The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention this June will be in Greensboro, North Carolina, a first for that medium-sized city. When attendance dropped back to manageable numbers a decade ago, our leaders decided it was time to gather in some places we haven't been lately, if at all. Last year, Nashville. I was impressed to see that two of our local leaders will be on the program. Lonnie Wascom is the director of missions (my counterpart) on the Northshore, which includes everything from Slidell to Covington to Hammond. He will be speaking at the meeting of the SBC Associational Directors of Missions. Then, David Crosby of the FBC of New Orleans has been given a slot on the SBC program itself, to talk about the rebuilding of New Orleans with particular slant on the Cooperative Program, our denomination's instrument for receiving and channeling offerings throughout the world. Both men are highly articulate and outstanding in every way and will represent us well. I've already begun praying for them.
In July, I'll be speaking at the great Central Baptist Church-Bearden of Knoxville, down the street from the University of Tennessee, where my friend of nearly 4 decades Larry Fields has labored so faithfully for over 20 years. Larry and Sandy will be enjoying a sabbatical in Oxford (yes, England, not Mississippi. Or Alabama either, for that matter). I have to tell you what Larry did the other day.
April 8, Larry and Sandy's son John married a lovely young lady named Allie in their church. They rave about their new daughter-in-law and are greatly impressed by their son's choice of a life-mate. At the wedding, Larry told something that happened on their first date. As John and Allie drove down Deane Hill Parkway, he pointed out the imposing church structure on his right and said, "Have you ever been there?" Allie said, "I went once, but the pastor was boring." John knew immediately he liked this girl. He smiled and said, "See the name on the sign?" Dr. Larry Fields, Senior Pastor. Something clicked in her and she got it. She said, "Oh, is he your grandfather?" And Larry told this in the middle of their wedding. The congregation is still laughing.
Today, April 30, I'm preaching in the 11 am service at the FBC of St. Rose, a residential community a few miles west of the New Orleans airport. My subject is prayer. I thought I would tell them about the four questions the Lord asked me once when I was doing my (then) nightly prayer walking. These came with such clarity, I wrote them down and have never doubted that they were directly from the Father. (One way you can be that certain is when they arrive with such relevancy to your particular situation.) The four questions were:
1. What would it take to stop you from praying? (Not much for many of us, apparently. But what if the government decreed--as they did in Daniel's day--that no prayers toward the living God should be offered?)
Today, Thursday, we're having a long-awaited dedication for the widening of the infamous Huey P. Long Bridge. Built in the 1930s when cars must have been one-third the width they are today, this bridge has put the fear of the Lord into more people than hundreds of the best sermons.
Amazingly, this all began in 1892 with a proposal from the Southern Pacific Railroad that a bridge across the river be built. In 1916, the Public Belt Railroad Commission got the state constitution changed to allow New Orleans to erect such a bridge. In 1928, Governor Huey P. Long pushed through a constitutional amendment allowing bonds to be issued. Construction began in 1932. In 1935, the year Huey Long was murdered in our state capitol building, the bridge was finished and was named for him. It cost $13 million dollars, this in the middle of the Depression when a dollar was ten.
In 1988, they started studying widening the bridge. !989, voters approve $60 million to widen it. 1996, they found what it would really cost to fix this bridge and stopped. 1998, Governor Mike Foster signs a bill setting aside $220 million for the project. 2002, Mayor Marc Morial offers to sell the bridge to the state for at least $300 million. Hearing that the Brooklyn Bridge might be for sale, the state rejects the offer. Today, April 27, 2006, ground-breaking for the widening and reconfiguring.
Don't hold your breath. It will take five years and will cost--you ready for this?--$600 million. Meanwhile, traffic problems will be the order of the day.
Phil Mickelson, in town to play in the Zurich Classic this weekend, announced last night that whatever winnings he receives from this golf tournament he will donate to some Katrina charity. The winner of the recent Masters tournament in Augusta says he will do this for the next 8 or 10 years, "however long it takes to rebuild this city." I know who I'm pulling for.
For the first time since the hurricane, nearly 8 months ago, my Newsweek arrived. All third class mail has been shut out from the city's 701 zip codes until now. So, last night, I flipped through to see what I've been missing. Bear in mind, I've been a Newsweek subscriber--never "Time"--since the 1960s when that publication offered great rates to seminary students. After I finished, the only thing that lingered from my reading was a correction Newsweek had made.
Recently, in telling of my brother Charlie's death, I told of the tragic death of our home pastor's teenage son some years back. I had asked him if in the "comfort" of friends anyone said anything truly unusual. He told how a lady said to him, "I know exactly how you feel because when my son went off to college, I cried and cried."
A friend who read that wrote me about the time her little daughter died. I've changed the names, but otherwise, this is the letter verbatim.
"When our three-year-old daughter died suddenly, I heard some strange comments. I know these friends meant well, but these comments were less than comforting.
"3. 'You can have another baby.' We didn't WANT another baby--we wanted Kathy!
"2. 'You still have Joan.' (Referring to our six-year-old in first grade.) Wonderful! Of course we adored Joan and we were thankful--but Kathy died!
"1. 'You are so brave. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to my child.' This number one, top of my list of horrors,is 'You are so brave, Mary Lou.' BRAVE???? Who, ME? With a wrinkled raisin where my heart used to be and a Humvee on my chest, I felt anything but brave! I just went through the motions of life, trying to help my husband and my mother who were devastated by Kathy's death. So much for comforting comments. (signed) Mary Lou"
I am well aware that people often do not know what to say in a time of tragedy and great loss. That's why many people avoid funerals and wakes. My pointing out mistakes that some people make could actually increase the tension and make some more determined to do even less. I hope not.
But I do have suggestions on what to do when your friend has a death in his/her family.
1. Your presence is the biggest gift; you don't have to say anything. You'll realize this when you experience the loss and you're on the receiving end of the comfort. All someone has to do to touch your deep hurt is walk up and hug you. No words required. Just a hug. Human touch has such power to comfort. If you're not a hugger or the recipient isn't, a handshake, a hand on the shoulder, or some other touch will work equally fine.
2. If you want to say something comforting, whether in person or in a note, here are three simple suggestions.
"I'm so sorry." (You don't have to say 'I'm sorry for your loss.' Just 'I'm so sorry' works just fine.)
"I love you." (That's the best, so long as it's real and appropriate.)
"I'm praying for you." (If you are, say this. If you haven't been praying already, perhaps you shouldn't say it.)
That's all. You thought this was going to be complex? In a typical situation, after you have given a hug and simply said, "I'm so sorry," the grieving friend will want to talk. There is no way to predict what he or she will say. However, it's crucial for you to remember that your assignment is to listen. Do not tell your friend of the time you lost your father or mother or brother or whoever. Do not give advice. Do not tell a story. This is not the time. Just listen, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to respond appropriately.
Last August 29, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the levees broke in our city, devastating much of New Orleans. Over a thousand people died here, and in a sense, the city as we had known it ceased to be.
And just as when a death occurs, people gather to comfort and mourn with you, we've received friends and visitors from all over the nation. Some have come to grieve, to weep, to see how it looks and decide how to help. Some have worn work clothes, rolled up their sleeves, and jumped right in. But, as with other deaths, some came to give advice.
I recall one visitor who stood at our weekly pastors' gathering and preached us all a young sermon on Romans 8:28, how God was going to use this in our lives and that we should be thankful. He did not say one word that was wrong, as I recall. The problem is, he was not qualified to offer such counsel. He had just arrived. He had not shed a tear with us or ministered to a single person. He just came and preached and left.
You will remember that after Job's incredible losses, his friends arrived and sat with him for 7 days and nights, speaking not a single word. "They saw that his pain was very great" (Job 2:13), and he felt comforted by their presence. Then they started talking and undid all the good they had accomplished. When they finished, Job said, "Miserable comforters are you all." (Job 16:2)
I love you. I'm sorry. I'm praying for you. Great sounds of healing comfort.
Boogie Melerine said, "We had 61 Sunday, with three professions of faith and one rededication." Lots of 'amens' went up. He said, "Pray for us. We're still talking with the Presbyterian Church down there about purchasing their property." They only have 5 or 6 members, and I think they've started coming over to Boogie's church-in-the-carport. As I understand it, the members and the governing body of their denomination are disputing as to who owns the building and property.
Hong Fu Liu of the Chinese Church said, "We baptized fourteen Sunday. And have one who will be baptized soon." Amens again. All of them saved during the recent Billy/Franklin Graham meeting.
(This was written on national secretaries' day in 2005, and we decided to hold it back for this year. The events mentioned are dated, but the points are timeless.)
Today is the one day every pastor in our city wants to be a church secretary. On this day each year, our association provides a luncheon for all secretaries of Baptist churches in metro New Orleans, and today's will be held in Commander's Palace, only one of the greatest restaurants in the world. To be exact, we pay half and the churches pay the other half of the cost of thirty dollars each, not bad for where we're going. The room holds 85 people; we had no trouble with slackers not getting their reservations in.
Dr. Rhonda Kelley, professor, author of a number of books, and wife of the president of our beloved New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, will be the featured speaker. She is an ideal speaker but she will carry another positive when she stands up to speak today. Rhonda knows what it is to live in the shadow of big persons and to labor to make someone else successful--which of course, sounds like a church secretary's job description. Her growing up years, she was known as the daughter of Bob Harrington, the chaplain of Bourbon Street. For almost all her adult life, she's been known as the wife of Chuck Kelley, the president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Yet, she is really somebody, well worth knowing, an accomplished individual, a godly woman.
Great restaurant, excellent speaker, good food, impressive atmosphere. However, you might be surprised to know the star of these luncheons is the fellowship.
Sunday morning on my drive downriver to Port Sulphur, as I often do, I phoned my mom for a brief chat before she heads to church. To my surprise, Dad answered the phone. I said, "What are you doing up? You sleep til noon!" He said, "I'm getting ready for church. I feel fine. I even have my hearing aids in!" Then he said, "Here's your mom."
I know how privileged I am being able to have this conversation with my parents at my age (66) and at theirs (almost 90 and 94). Some of us Alabamians treasure a television commercial the legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant made at the U of A campus over 20 years ago for a phone company. He was telling how he makes all the Bama players call their mamas on Sunday afternoon. At the end of the commercial, thinking the camera was off, he added something that just popped into his mind. "I sure wish I could call mine." That comment was so poignant, they left it in.
Believe me, I know I'm blessed. And I'm grateful.
Mom said, "Last night, Pop was trying on some new clothes, and I told him, 'You look so good, you ought to wear that to church tomorrow morning.' So he is." She described what he was wearing. Keep in mind, he's 94 years old and has a shock of white hair and a white mustache. "A black shirt with a black leather vest, and a red bow tie." I laughed and she said, "And a gold watch chain hanging from the vest." I said, "All he needs now is a straw hat." She said, "He has one."
Monday she said he didn't wear the straw hat. One of his great-grandsons told Pop and Mom they were the best-looking couple at church.
I related this to a couple of friends, and one of them, our distinguished president emeritus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Landrum Leavell, who also knows about shocks of white hair, said, "Your dad sounds like a dude!" Oh, he is that. Grandson Neil said, "All Pop needs with that outfit is a six-shooter and holster."
They threw away the mold when they made him.
Talking to another dude the other day--Joe Williams, our FBI chaplain and NAMB counselor assigned to Katrinaland for an indefinite period--we were discussing the ministry fatigue that everyone down here is experiencing. Joe is leading daylong seminars for pastors and wives to help them combat that fatigue and showing them how to help their members through it. It's not just the ministers; it's everyone in this part of the world.
I said to Joe, "Over the years, I've given some thought to fatigue. You might be interested in this." I drew it off on a post-it note and handed it to him for future reference.
We know what MINISTRY FATIGUE is: You're tired from serving. And we know what COMPASSION FATIGUE is: You're tired from caring. Everyone in this hurricane-ravaged part of the world is dealing with those on an everyday basis, and these are the targets for Joe and wife Linda Williams' seminars.
But I've identified a couple of other kinds of fatigue. There is what I call CUMULATIVE FATIGUE. This kind just keeps on building up. You can walk away from it and take a vacation, but when you come back, it's like it has been sitting there waiting on you. It's still huge and heavy. You start to work again and immediately you're tired and grow moreso by the moment.
Gentilly Baptist Church met Sunday morning. Pastor David Arceneaux has turned in his resignation and will be moving to Houston. He wanted to assemble as many of his people as possible to meet, worship, fellowship, and make some decisions about the property. They met in our associational office building and Freddie Arnold from our staff attended. Some 10 or 12 Gentilly members were present. Pastor Dave preached and the members formed a board of directors to make future decisions about their buildings, with Freddie and me as members.
Originally, I had planned to make that meeting, but when we discovered that Port Sulphur Baptist Church in Plaquemines Parish was meeting in a tent on their property, I wanted to be there. Pastor Lynn Rodrigue says this is their third Sunday for worship. "We packed out our tent the other Sundays," he said, "but we lost some when the Catholic church down the street re-opened." They had 35 or 40 for church this morning at ten o'clock.
It's exactly 60 miles from my driveway to Port Sulphur Baptist Church. You cross the Mississippi River over the Huey P. Long Bridge, then on the West Bank Expressway take the LaFayette exit and drive south to the town of Belle Chasse. Keep going; drive another 40 miles or so downriver. On your atlas, you will see that state highway 23 mimics every turn of the Mississippi River downstream, all the way to the gulf. My map shows it as a scenic drive, which these days is a cruel joke.
The devastation from Katrina is still so evident beginning a few miles below Belle Chasse. Skeletons of houses and businesses still stand, gaunt, lifeless. Piles of trash, wrecked buildings, abandoned cars. Debris. Sadness. No stores open. Nothing but FEMA trailers.
Power company trucks and crews were out. The storm had wrecked the poles and lines, all of them leaning and twisted and useless, so crews have installed an entire new set of poles and lines on the other side of the road. Electrical power is gradually moving south.
"We are giving away food and water and materials here at the church," Pastor Lynn Rodrigue said. "We've got the names of 3,000 people who've been by for help." Where are they living? "In FEMA trailers." On the drive south, I had noticed those little boxes in half the driveways, alongside mansions and shacks, and most incongruous of all, beside larger house trailers. "And we have a refrigerated trailer for the food we're giving away."
"We have a trailer now," Lynn said, pointing to the little FEMA offspring in back of the ruined church buildings. "We stayed there last night for the first time." Lynn and wife Nicole and their four small children, living in something like 240 square feet. "I've been commuting from where we're living in Baton Rouge," he said, "but now we'll be down here so we can really minister to the people."
The church at Port Sulphur was one of our two strongest Baptist churches in lower Plaquemines. They had nice buildings and a school which enrolled 95 students. Everything is ruined now. "A church in Virginia adopted us. They sent a team down to see our situation, including a structural engineer." I'll be surprised if anyone thinks these buildings are salvageable. The steel building's girders are bent and twisted.
Looking over the congregation, I said, "Are all these your regular members?" "Yes," he said, "except for two or three who were teachers in our school, they're all ours."
Voters piled into New Orleans from every direction. Buses brought displaced New Orleanians from as far away as Atlanta. Why did you ride the bus down here when you could have voted absentee? Anthony and Frances Tasker answered that the questions being asked in the ballot application were "too personal to risk anyone getting their hands on." Neighbors who had not seen each other since August 29 were greeting and hugging. Tears were flowing, according to those who were there.
The headline of Sunday's paper blares out: NAGIN and underneath LANDRIEU. Subtitle: "Forman runs distant third; runoff set for May 20."
The returns began coming in soon after polls closed at 8 pm, and the lead seesawed for a while between the top three. Then Nagin and Landrieu pulled away and Forman was never close again.
Analysts use computers these days and can tell you almost instantly who is voting for each candidate. For instance, Mayor Nagin received almost all the votes of displaced voters who had lost their homes, and he and Landrieu split the votes of African-Americans in the city. Forman's support came almost exclusively from the "white" precincts. Even with the population of the city being less than half its normal 450,000, the turnout of registered voters was 36%, compared with 45% in the last election when life was normal and everyone was at home.
As the paper reported, Nagin received 41,489 votes for 38%, Mitch Landrieu 31,499 (29%), Ron Forman 18,734 (17%), and Rob Couhig 10,287 (10%).
You have to be a little stunned at the small number of votes some of the candidates thought to be among the top tier received. When the media would select the top one-third of the twenty-something candidates, they brought together Rev. Tom Watson, Virginia Boulet, and Peggy Wilson. For all their trouble, the votes they garnered were: Watson 1,264 (1%), Boulet 2,367 (2%), and Wilson 772 (1%).
And Clerk of Criminal Court Kimberly Williamson Butler, she of "martyrdom" fame, how did she do? She received 793 votes, or 1%. James Arey is a familiar and pleasant voice on our NPR station in New Orleans, based at the University of New Orleans. He resigned his job to run for mayor. Poor guy. He shoulda kept his day job. Only 99 votes.
This week the New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 to set August 29 as the date when homeowners will have to have their ruined homes restored, otherwise face demolition. If not restored, they must be cleaned, gutted, and boarded up, or risk having the city seize and demolish them. Unless this is done, the council said, mold-infested homes can become environmental biohazards that will discourage others from returning and rebuilding, thus slowing the recovery of the city.
Councilmember Jay Batt, who introduced the motion, said, "It's not fair to others to let these houses languish." A website will be set up for those needing outside help. And a reviewing panel will make the final decision on special cases.
August 29 is one year from the date of Katrina and the flooding which followed. Councilmembers say that's plenty of time. One day after the council passed this ordinance, Mayor Ray Nagin protested that it is not enough time, that many people, particularly older citizens, need more time. He threatened to veto that action of the council. Since it takes only 5 votes to override his veto, it appears to be a meaningless threat.
This week we heard of a youth group coming in the summer from a church in Georgia bringing lawn mowers and weed eaters. Great idea. On my daily drive up Elysian Fields Avenue to the lakefront, I notice waist high weeds in most yards. My impression is that weedeaters are more practical. I'd hate to push a lawnmower over those yards without a clue what kind of debris lurks underneath the thick grass. Many homes have not been touched in the eight months since the hurricane, and it could be dangerous.
I love the way the Lord works. Friday morning a pastor sat in my office and told of a Georgia church coming to help restore his buildings and his home. He said, "We had five churches to adopt us, but they're the only one following through." He said, "Soon we're going to be needing pews." I promised to keep my eye out for churches wishing to give away their old pews. Two hours later, a lady from a church in Ellijay, Georgia, called wondering if we needed 24 pews they had to give away. Saturday evening, Margaret and I bumped into the local pastor and I told him how the Lord was providing.
Today, Saturday, is the long-awaited election for the mayor and council of New Orleans, along with two sheriffs, seven tax assessors, and other offices. No one knows how the displaced citizens who voted absentee have voted, or how the citizens who are driving in from surrounding parishes will vote, or what role race will play in the election. Secretary of State Al Ater has set up headquarters in the Marriott Hotel with his entire staff to oversee this election. Normally, the clerk of Criminal Court would do that. But Kimberly Butler, the clerk, decided to run for mayor, and that put her in the position of overseeing the election in which she was a candidate. In addition, she engaged in such shenanigans with the judges that they jailed her for contempt. She came out claiming martyr status in the same league as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. So, Mr. Ater is in charge and everyone is glad he is. Normally, the secretary of state position is so obscure most people can't even name its occupant. Look for Mr. Ater to run for higher office himself next time.
"Vote against the incumbents," shouted one ad in Friday's newspaper. Another ad, placed by "Citizens for Change," urged everyone to vote for the incumbent mayor, Ray Nagin. How that would bring about change they didn't say.
(We've just sent this message out to all our pastors and churches that make up the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. We suggested they photocopy it and distribute to their members.)
In October of 2004 at our associational meeting, I began my message to you with a burden. The biggest surprise I'd had on becoming your director of missions six months earlier was the ISOLATION of our churches. Each congregation was doing its own ministry, its members complete strangers to members of the other churches. Even the pastors barely knew each other; we might count 15 at our monthly ministers' meetings which lasted one hour.
One result of the isolation of our churches was the INSULATION of our members. We insulate a house to keep the world outside. We insulate our members from the outside community when we occupy their time with meetings inside the organization and jobs inside the building. Ask our people to go down the street and meet their neighbors and most will tell you they don't have time.
If one of Satan's methods is to divide God's people, and it is, he can check that one off his list, I told you. Because we've done it to ourselves! We were not working together. The result of that was a complete ABDICATION of our assignment to be salt and light in this community. We were failing the Lord, the world, and one another.
Normally, when a preacher unburdens himself in a sermon, he ends with the remedy. He tells how the Lord wants to correct the bad situation. But at that meeting, I said, "I don't know what the answer is. I do not know what God is going to do to get us into the community as salt and light." And that's where we left the matter.
Recently, we quoted some of our pastors who feared an outbreak of some kind of respiratory epidemic due to the mold and mildew in the air. Wednesday's newspaper reports that a check of 56,000 emergency room visits in local hospitals from October through March showed only a slight increase in this area. One percent increase for asthma and 7 percent increase for respiratory infections. Not nearly the drastic increase many had predicted and all had feared. That's great news.
State leaders of emergency preparedness told a state senate committee in Baton Rouge this week that with the increase of deadly hurricanes predicted for the next few years, residents should be planning to evacuate coastal areas--including New Orleans--early and often. In particular, those living in FEMA trailers would be most vulnerable and should not hang around until the last minute.
Slidell police have arrested a couple of people for selling FEMA trailers. The only good news--and it's not much--is that they are not local citizens, but from an adjoining state. One man was a contractor for FEMA who delivered the trailers, and the other was nabbed for receiving stolen property. They were selling these modular homes for $5,000 each, a bargain by any accounting since FEMA pays the supplier over $3,000 a month to provide and set up the trailers. These characters would have come out better if they'd gone into business as suppliers.
In a newspaper article listing persons arrested for insurance fraud--claiming to have suffered hurricane damage when they hadn't--an unusual crime is listed. Carey Watis, 42, of the community of Convent, LA, was arrested for stealing flooded and abandoned vehicles off the streets of New Orleans, hauling them to his place of business and crushing them, then selling them for scrap. He would reap $150 per car. For this crime, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $3,000 per car. Meanwhile, the city is hiring a contractor to haul off those same cars and is paying to have it done, up to $1,000 per car. One wonders if there is any sanity left in this city.
On Wednesday night's television, two stations were running programs aimed toward helping locals deal with the stress of post-Katrina life adjustment. It reads like the treatment they are presenting is simply getting people to tell their stories. We've found at our Wednesday pastors meeting there really is therapy in just hearing what someone else is going through or came through.
Tuesday night, I gave our out-of-town guests from a large Texas church two choices on where to have dinner. You can have high cuisine or good eatin', I told them. The high cuisine, I said, is LaParvenu, a victorian home turned into a restaurant, owned by the chef who used to run a famous eatery in New Orleans. The good eatin' is called Comeback Inn, where the po-boys are big, delicious, messy, and fried. They opted for LaParvenu. We ate on the front porch and the food was beautiful, delicious, and somewhat pricey. I noticed at the top of the menu in fine print this line: "Separate checks for $2 extra." I love the restaurant but I was offended by that. Just one more way of squeezing a little more money from the consumer. I suppose they learned that art from the oil companies. Let OPEC sneeze and we pay another 10 cents per gallon. I keep reminding myself to ask Guidestone to invest my retirement account in oil stocks.
"COME AND SEE."
The other evening I caught the last half of a movie on television in which Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon portray Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in the days after he contracted polio, as they discover the rehabilitative powers of the "warm springs" in the Georgia community by that name. He bought the small cluster of houses and pools that made up that facility, and then started looking for financial support. On learning that a convention of medical doctors and researchers was convening in Atlanta, Eleanor and Franklin drove up and invaded the meeting, interrupting a speaker who was delivering a paper. Flashing that famous FDR grin, the future president charmed the crowd, told of the powers of the waters at Warm Springs, and gave them a simple invitation. I was fully expecting to hear him tell them, "We need financial support." Instead, he said, "If this interests you, we invite you to come and see for yourselves."
Wednesday morning, on my way to First Baptist-LaPlace for our weekly ministers' gathering, I found myself wondering if anyone would show up. I missed last Wednesday, in Jackson for our friend's funeral. And last week, we cut the meetings to two hours, from 10 to noon. So, perhaps the interest is dwindling. As always, I sent up a brief reminder to the Father that "This is yours; it's not about me; let this weekly meeting continue as long as it meets the needs of even one person."
It may have been our best meeting ever. Some fifty people were there, including several for the first time.
We were thrilled to welcome home Rev. and Mrs. Johnny Jones, pastor of the ill-fated Free Mission Church in the Lower 9th Ward, and now living in the Fort Knox, Kentucky, area where their son is a chaplain. "We had a meeting last Sunday of about 25 members," Brother Johnny said, "in front of our building." They're meeting again tonight (Wednesday) at Shoney's on the West Bank. Both the church and the Joneses' home have been gutted out and await restoration. Since they are in the tragic Lower 9th, no one knows to this day what the city is going to allow or require for rebuilding. My guess is everyone is waiting for Saturday's mayoral election, and then for the new mayor to make this call.
James "Boogie" Melerine, pastor of the Delacroix-Hope church, now meeting in a carport in the community of St. Bernard, reported, "We had 77 for church Sunday." They were running 25 before Katrina. "We've had eight adults saved recently." The Presbyterian church in that community may be for sale, and they're in conversations with the half-dozen members there about buying it. "To their credit," he said, "they're spending their insurance money to restore the church before discussing with us about purchasing it." Someone asked what they planned to name the "new" church. A nearby bayou is one possibility, but he said, "Some want to name it 'Katrina.'" The laughter that provoked made me wonder if he was serious. He seemed to be.
That's the way with Christians, isn't it. Taking the worst flung at them and turning it into a badge of honor. Like the cross. Like Good Friday. Like Paul reading his resume' in II Corinthians 11:23-28 where he lists as his credentials the suffering he endured for Jesus' sake.
In Monday night's mayoral debate, moderators Norman Robinson and Chris Mathews tried. They pushed and pushed the candidates but got little of substance from any of them. Each had his talking points and strayed little from them. On Tuesday's op-ed pages, the columnists called them on it.
Stephanie Grace's column was headed, "Candidates duck rebuilding debate." Early on, she says, there was hope that the massive needs of this city would provoke vigorous debate over the decisions the city would have to make on land use. Shall we turn the lowest sections of the city from residential neighborhoods into parks or industrial development? It seems the candidates are afraid to take the most reasonable stand, that some areas should be deemed unsafe at any cost and left alone. In order to be elected, they take the path of least resistance. "Trust me with your vote," they imply, "and I'll do the right thing later."
Columnist Jarvis DeBerry told the kind of candidate he was looking for, the man or woman who would capture his vote. "Anybody who steps up and offers me the bitter-tasting, hard-to-stomach truth...will have my support. And I'll be happy to give it." Alas, no one of the two dozen candidates qualified, he says. "Don't get me wrong," DeBerry writes. "I understand that at its most basic level, a political campaign is nothing more than an elaborate version of the note that gets passed to the cute girl in the 7th grade reading class: 'Do you like me? Check yes or no.'" None of the mayoral candidates want to say anything that will offend. "We're being talked to as if we're children, children who are too immature to be told how dire our situation really is, too petulant and self-centered to appreciate how much sacrifice our recovery will require of us."
The Times-Picayune has just won two Pulitzers. One was awarded for meritorious public service for the paper's coverage of Katrina and its aftermath. The other was given for distinguished reporting of breaking news, again for Katrina. I notice that the Sun Herald, newspaper of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, received the public service award, too. That should not imply that the way to get a Pulitzer is to have a major catastrophe occur on your watch; many papers do not rise to the occasion the way these two did.
On Elysian Fields Avenue Monday morning, the wrecking machines were tearing down the beloved Baptist church on that street. Ironic how a grand edifice like that, one which has stood imposingly on that corner for over 40 years, can be reduced to a pile of concrete and rubble so quickly. Ironic and sad. I expect a new, smaller, more functional building to go up on that corner before long, and won't we all be glad.
Perhaps the weirdest moment in Monday night's mayoral debate came when each candidate was allowed to ask another a question, and Peggy Wilson asked incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin if he really wants all the welfare cheats, the pimps, the drug dealers, the murderers back. "Do you want those people back?" Nagin answered, "I want everybody to come back to the city." Then he added, "The ones I'm not excited about coming back are the people that have been involved in very serious crimes."
People ask me who I'm voting for. I live in River Ridge, in Jefferson Parish, not in New Orleans. I wish I did live there, just to vote this Saturday.
Pastor Tony Merida got it right today. This young man of God, in the second year of his first pastorate, is so solid in his presentation, so sound in his theology, and so right in his connection with the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Kenner, it's pure joy to hear him. His message on the resurrection of Jesus was precisely what I needed to hear after burying a good friend and a dear brother this week. I pray that I shall live boldly and never fear death, which if the Gospels are to be believed, is a conquered enemy.
Tony's sense of humor is so refreshing. Referring to the John 20 scene where Peter and John rush to the tomb to find it empty and the Lord's grave clothes flat and the head towel folded neatly by itself, Tony called that two miracles. "The Lord was risen and a single man folded his clothes."
Early this morning after spending time in the Word and then on the floor with my exercises, I walked on the Mississippi River levee, caught a quick shower, then rushed to LaFreniere Park for the 7 am Easter Sunrise Service conducted by the Lutheran church. The people were all leaving. "I thought it started at seven," I said to two ladies decked out in bright Easter colors. "Six-fifteen," one said. "The one in the cemetery starts at seven." It would be half over by the time I got there. As I drove away, they called out a bright, "Happy Easter."
This Monday night at 8 pm Central, the debate of the candidates for New Orleans mayor goes national. Chris Mathews and MSNBC will broadcast this show, and it should be worth watching. Sunday's Times-Picayune says some of the candidates are through playing nice and have started making accusations. Ron Forman accuses Mitch Landrieu of never meeting a tax he didn't like when he was in the state legislature. Landrieu fires back that Forman sure did like to receive the money from those taxes at the various Audubon enterprises he oversaw. Peggy Wilson is predicting that she, the official Republican nominee, will meet Mayor Nagin in the runoff. The newspaper has endorsed Forman but finds a lot it likes in Rob Couhig, Virginia Boulet, and Rev. Tom Watson.
Sewell Cadillac, the prestigious downtown dealership, lost a lot of great automobiles to the Katrina thing when as many as 90 police officers helped themselves to vehicles for transportation in and out of the city. Attorney General Charles Foti is investigating and it's still to be seen what recommendations he will make. In the meantime, Sewell has decided to capitalize on the event. Billboards going up around town announce: "New Orleans' Finest Drive Sewell." Police Chief Warren Riley smiles about it and says, "It's good advertising, a stroke of genius, really. A good-humored joke. It was smart of them to use us to their own benefit."
Originally, I had planned to leave Saturday, April 8, in late afternoon driving toward Charlotte, NC, to visit son Marty and his family before heading back to Anderson University Monday night for Tuesday's speaking assignments, then back to New Orleans. The death of my brother Charlie that Saturday morning changed everything. For the whole family, of course. I left Sunday morning and drove to Nauvoo, Alabama, visited with Charlie's wife Carolyn and their sons Patrick, Russell, and Chris, then spent the night with my folks. Once I learned that they were scheduling the funeral later in the week following an autopsy on Monday, I continued with the Anderson University assignment. So, Monday morning, I drove to Anderson, SC, and had a wonderful time Tuesday morning speaking to the student body, then to a group of administrators and pastors.
I'll pause here long enough to share the gist of my message to the students. This was a missions-oriented service, and everyone knew my message would be related to the New Orleans situation. I said, "I'd like to start a conversation today, one I hope you will continue among yourselves. I'd like to ask you five questions."
"One. Do you think God knew Hurricane Katrina was going to happen and do the damage that it did? The reason I ask is there is a new theology around called 'Open Theism' which claims that since something has not occurred yet, it's impossible for God to know it." I shared with them God's call on my life to become director of missions for the Baptist churches of New Orleans 18 months before Katrina, and the story of Patricia Prechter (told here several days ago) who said God led her to join the National Guard in 1978 so she would be the chief medical officer on duty in the Superdome for those 10 days following Katrina. What do you think, does He know?
"Two. Do you think Katrina was God's judgement on New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast for sin? Many have said so." I told them of my letter to the editor in the aftermath of Katrina addressing this, pointing out that I am amazed at the certainty of those who know it was His judgment as well as those who are sure it was not. I suggested it may be; we deserve it; let us seek the Lord. If one says the storm was God's judgment on New Orleans, he should be prepared to explain why the storm spared the French Quarter and destroyed the poorest section of town. "If the Lord should mark iniquity, who would stand?" Psalm 130:3 puts it well.
"Three. Is Romans 8:28 still in effect?" I told ways in which God had brought good from the destruction of Katrina.
"Four. Are you willing to trust God with your future?" After all, He knows the plans He has for you and you don't. Can you trust Him?
And five. "Will you pray for us in New Orleans?"
I left Anderson Tuesday around 2:30 and drove straight through to Jackson, Mississippi, arriving around 10 pm dead tired. I was so tired that when two hotels in a row had no non-smoking rooms left, I took a smoking room just to have a bed. Big mistake. I was had trouble breathing all night and determined never to do that again.
Yesterday, we held the appreciation event for First-Responders in the New Orleans Arena. I have no idea how many of our heroes got the message and attended. Fewer than we had hoped, obviously. But we had a great turnout of volunteers from various churches and the fellowship was great, and the heroes who did attend seem to have been touched by the kindnesses and gifts they received. Thanks to Cherry Blackwell and her team of volunteers for overseeing this.
Saturday was a doubly sad day for our family.
Around 8 o'clock that morning, my sister Patricia called from north Alabama to say that our youngest brother Charlie had had a heart attack and was being rushed to the Jasper hospital. At nine o'clock, she called back to say he did not make it, that he was dead on arrival. We were stunned. Age 62, the youngest of Mom and Dad's six children. Charlie had lots of health issues and had been on disability for years, but he was not an invalid. In fact, Mom said he was at their house Friday, visiting, being his jovial self.
You can get a good snapshot of Charlie if you go to our website www.joemckeever.com and read his comments left at the end of various articles, usually signed Charles. He always says some variation of how proud they are of me, how he expected no less, how I'm following in the footsteps of our terrific Dad.
Charlie and Carolyn have three sons, Patrick, Russell, and Chris, and I don't know, maybe 6 grandchildren, including Chris' triplets. Burial at Nauvoo, Alabama, later this week after the autopsy.
Mickey Brunson died Saturday also. Mrs. W. C. "Bill" Brunson was the receptionist at First Baptist Church of Jackson, MS, in the early 1970s when I was on staff. A dearer, classier, kinder, more gracious human never existed. The funeral is set for Wednesday morning at that church. Depending on when Charlie's service is set for, I plan to make it.
A double-whammy. If it were not for the promise of the Lord that "whoever believes on the Son of God shall never die," I don't know how we could handle these blows.
Turning to the news today....
We're always glad to grab on to any good news we can find these days. Here are seven tidbits I've noticed, starting with a personal item.
1. Birthday number 94.
My mom and I are on the phone almost every morning, one of the blessings of cell phone technology. Wednesday, we spoke of Dad's birthday coming up April 13. This will be number 94, if you can believe it. She asked if I had invited readers of this e-mail to send him birthday notes. "Not really," I said. We've done that in the past, but I didn't want to burden anyone or take advantage. Mom is not one to beat around the bush. She said, "It's not too late." Okay, mom.
At Pop's age and with his various infirmities, the high point of his day is opening the morning mail. So, here's the address: Carl J. McKeever, 191 County Road 101, Nauvoo, Alabama 35578. And if you happen to find this later and don't make the April 13 deadline, remember: he reads the mail every day. (A note on any kind of paper carries as much weight with him as a store-bought card, so don't go to any trouble.)
2. Lifeway returns
Walker Downs, former manager of our Lifeway Christian Store (aka Baptist Book Store) on the campus of our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, called today to say they're coming back. "We'll be open by May 1," he said. That's great news. We have missed that store!
"We'll be hiring an all-new staff," Walker said, and invites people to apply for the sales and stock positions. How? Go to the website and fill out an application: www.lifeway.com/jobs.
I invited the new manager to attend our Wednesday pastors meeting and tell our people about the plans for this "new" store. Welcome back, Lifeway!
3. Suburban Baptist Church is meeting every week now.
Pastor Jeff Box tells me they are running about 40 in attendance each Sunday. They have power and everything, and are meeting in the fellowship hall of their church. They're located at intersection of Chef Menteur Highway and Schindler Drive in east New Orleans.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Saturday, April 8 is our "First-Responders Appreciation Event" in the New Orleans Arena. We're trying to honor all the medical/military/firefighting/law-enforcement/other people who helped New Orleans survive those first weeks after Katrina. Please help us get word to any you know. Admission is one's identification tag or badge. We'll have gifts and prizes and food, all free, of course. The hours are from 10 to 4. The arena is just behind the Superdome. Park in the Dome parking lot for $5.
Today, Wednesday, was the last of our three-hour pastors meetings. Had you told me pre-Katrina that we would be gathering our ministers every week for 3 solid hours of doing nothing but sitting and talking and listening, and that that would go on for over SIX MONTHS! I would have known something unusual must have happened. Next Wednesday, we shorten it one hour and begin at 10 am, closing at noon. We'll continue at First Baptist-LaPlace through April, then move across the river to Oak Park Baptist Church beginning the first Wednesday in May (from 10 to noon).
At first, this morning, I thought the pastors were sending us a message that these meetings had about run their course. We have known all along that when that time comes--as it will--the way we will know is by the decline in attendance. We got underway with no more than a dozen present. But by the time we reluctantly closed the meeting at 11:40, the room was packed and no one wanted to leave. I was one o'clock getting away. It was evident we're still addressing some real needs here. Several said this was the best meeting yet.
Boogie Melerine had 70 at Delacrois Hope last Sunday. They're still meeting in a shed. Some had to sit on buckets, they'd run out of chairs. Grace is running 40 or more. The Brazilian mission at Emmanuel is running 70. Getsemani is running 40 in Frost Chapel at the seminary, and Alberto is about to baptize some in classroom 101, in the small baptistry normally used for baptism demonstrations rather than the real thing. A number of those present raved about the Sunday night presentation of the praise music from the choir and orchestra of FBC Jackson, Mississippi.
The last hour of our session was devoted to a visit from Dr. Bill Taylor of the North American Mission Board, but recently retired from Lifeway as the director of church education (or some similar title; a lot of us call him "Mr. Sunday School"). Bill has a resume like few other ministers. Before heading up Sunday School for 40,000 SBC churches, he served on the church staffs of Roswell St. in Marietta, FBC LaFayette, Prestonwood in Dallas, and several other great churches. Early, he was making the point that he had served under pastors like Nelson Price, Perry Sanders, Jack Graham, and a couple of others whose names escape me now, all equally well-known throughout the SBC. He said, "They were all great pastors." And in my heckling way, I said, "And with huge egos." It got a laugh, which was all I was looking for, and he said, "No, I never worked with Joe McKeever." (That brought a bigger laugh.)
Bill and his team of visiting educators (I listed them in the previous article) have been visiting the churches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and listening to the ministers, and that was the plan here today. "We've not come to do anything for you," he said, "but to listen. We want to hear what your needs are, your frustrations, your situation. And we'll go back and think it through and see what the Lord tells us as to how we can help your churches." They are well aware of the fatigue factor, here and with our Mississippi colleagues. So many "experts" want to come to help, but they need you to put them up, provide for them, and come to their meetings. "We will not do that to you."
A friend who is working on our church history was surprised today to learn that I kept a daily record of every day of the decade of the 1990s. Since I came to pastor the First Baptist Church of Kenner in September of 1990 and stayed for nearly 14 years, that means the 46 "wordless books" which I filled with my nightly journaling are a great repository of information on the church during those years. But under no circumstances would I let anyone see it. Not for years to come. I told him, "I called names. Some of that would be embarrassing to people."
I told the church when I resigned two years ago about this decade-long journal and said, "Twenty-five years from now, anyone working on the church's history may read it." But not until.
I have kept my yearly calendars and promised my friend to go through them and make a few notes on the high points of each year. On Monday, I went through 6 years in an hour. And got an education.
It's like fast-forwarding your life. You see what you left out of your ministry and what pops up too frequently. I noted, for example, the days I was sick. Back trouble here and flu there. Two or three times a year, several days at a time. But that was in the early years of the 1990s. No more.
Sometime in the mid-90s, I decided to go against the male pattern and find me a doctor. Men, they say, fear doctors and resist going for checkups. But in my mid-50s, I knew it was high time. My new doctor examined me thoroughly and prescribed a regimen of vitamins and minerals, as well as a baby aspirin a day, and pronounced, "I think we have saved you from a heart attack." Then, I took it one step further.
I got serious about exercise. Instead of the occasional nighttime walk around my block, I stepped off a three mile route from home to the Mississippi River levee and down it and back. Three miles, 45 minutes. Every morning early. Then I bought some small weights and worked up a routine on the rug in front of the fireplace. I suppose we could call them home-made exercises, because I didn't invite a professional trainer in. I didn't buy anyone's video. I just worked up some stretching/lifting/pushing to exercise the various parts of my body. It normally takes about 15 minutes, and often I do it both morning and night. The results were worthwhile.
(Please invite every "first responder" you know--the medical/military/law enforcement/firefighting workers who served New Orleans during it's first few weeks after the hurricane--to our Appreciation Event at the New Orleans Arena this Saturday, April 8. The arena is open from 10 to 4 and we'll have lots of family events going on. First Reponders get in with their I.D.s as admission, and later in the day, we'll draw for a new car. Our main difficulty is getting word to everyone.)
Fred Luter is back. This exciting pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, so devastated by six to eight feet of floodwater, has been living in Birmingham since Katrina and spending a lot of time in and out of airports and on the interstates. He served on Mayor Nagin's Bring New Orleans Back Commission and has been preaching in major cities and conventions all over the country. These days, he preaches at 8 am to his congregation meeting temporarily at the First Baptist Church of New Orleans, then later in the morning to another group at one of Baton Rouge's largest churches, and twice a month to his folks in Houston at the First Baptist Church there.
Sunday night, he told me, "We had 1500 here at FBC-NO this morning. And probably 600-700 in Baton Rouge. And about the same number in Houston twice a month." For a dispersed congregation without a meeting place, they are making the most of a difficult situation. Fred is the moderator for our Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, and we're eager to have him attending our weekly pastors meetings.
Those pastors meetings--tell every pastor in our area you see--will continue at the FBC of LaPlace through April, then move to Oak Park Baptist Church in Algiers on May 3, meeting from 10 to noon, with lunch at 11:30.
Sunday night, April 2, the incredible choir and orchestra of the FBC of Jackson, Mississippi, brought an evening of inspiration at the FBC of New Orleans. The local choir joined the Jackson group, making a choir of several hundred. These friends had boarded buses Sunday after morning church and ridden three hours to get here. After the program, they rode back home. Most did not get home until after midnight, and went into work Monday morning sleepwalking. But how they blessed us. Just their presence was a-plenty, but the musical program was so stirring.
Among the participants was Professor Benjamin "Benjie" Harlan, one of God's great personalities and a well-known composer of Christian music. Dr. Graham Smith, retired (I think) from the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, did recitations from James Weldon Johnson's "God's Trombones," sure to stir anyone's heart. I handed him a cartoon in which someone is commenting that James Weldon Johnson showed up tonight and did his best Graham Smith imitation. Listening to Graham, I found myself hoping some young people were being awakened to the power of the human voice in announcing God's truth. I can still remember the time this really hit me. I was a student in seminary, we're talking the 1960s here, when Professor Wilbur Swartz stood in chapel and read from the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Until then, I had no idea that passage was as deeply moving as it became that day. Bible reading for me has never been the same. Graham Smith has the kind of power in his voice to awaken young believers.
They're making a big Hollywood movie in town these days, and disrupting our disrupted lives. They close lanes on the bridge over the river some days and other days, take over the ferry which runs from the foot of Canal Street to Algiers. Lots of big explosives and plenty of extras hired. The word is that this is a sci-fi movie starring Denzel Washington in which he has this "second sight," hence the name Deja vu, which alerts him to the work of terrorists before it occurs so he can stop it. Oh, that it worked that way.
Every day we relive our Katrina story all over again, even while trying to move into the future.
A typical day's headline stories will describe efforts to save our eroding wetlands, the deal-making over the towing of the thousands of flood-ruined cars in New Orleans, and Katrina-affected politics. Lots of politics. In Kenner, Saturday, voters put Mayor Phil Capitano in a run-off against former councilmember Ed Muniz, the mayor with 30% and Muniz with 33%. Retiring Police Chief Nick Congemi was an also-ran at 27%.
In New Orleans, each of the 23 candidates for April 22's mayoral election is still trying to break out of the pack.
Columnist Stephanie Grace writes Sunday that originally Mayor Nagin was a shoo-in for reelection. Then Katrina gave him more challenges than he knew what to do about and scattered the electorate across America and suddenly he looked vulnerable. Campaign funders went looking for alternatives and honed in on Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and Audubon Nature Institute's CEO Ron Forman. What they did not count on was both men running. Meanwhile, she says, no one paid any attention to two lesser knowns, Rob Couhig and Virginia Boulet.
So, in the mayoral debates, while the front-runners were boring us with their platitudes, so afraid to slip up that they refrained from saying anything, Couhig and Boulet did something unusual: they told us what they thought. "They've done it by talking about policy, sharply questioning their opponents and, most of all, airing their personal frustrations." Good for them. And in the long run, good for all of us. Maybe they will start a trend.
Saturday saw a big march across the Crescent City Connection, the double bridge over the river into Algiers and Gretna, led by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, a couple of Reverends always in search of a cause. They called this a reminder of the September 1 incident when Gretna police turned away New Orleanians fleeing the flooding of their city. Since they were walking, they decided to protest the April 22 election which, they say, strips evacuated citizens of their voting rights. The courts and respected leaders have pointed out that while this election may not be perfect, it's fair and legal and the right thing to do. Those scattered throughout Louisiana will have branch election sites, and those outside have received invitations to vote absentee. Secretary of State Al Ater says Jackson and others want him to set up voting sites in Houston, Memphis, and Atlanta, but he accurately points out that the laws governing Louisiana do not necessary apply in those other states. If someone votes fraudulently, will the Tennessee cops arrest him for violating Louisiana law?
Citizen Bill Davis writes in a Sunday letter, "My constitutional rights will be violated if people who have lived elsewhere for eight months are allowed to vote in the upcoming elections." He says, "The vast majority of the remaining evacuees will not be coming back anytime soon.... It is unfair for us to be governed by people elected by those who are no longer residents of our city."
On another subject, Jarvis DeBerry writes in his op-ed column, "Skyrocketing cost of insurance could cripple recovery." That's been my thought all along, that regardless what our politicians say, if a homeowner cannot get insurance or can't afford it, his rebuilding ends right there on the spot.
In Saturday's paper, someone pointed out a new thought for me. With, say, 100,000 homes in New Orleans lying unoccupied and spoiled, who's going to cut the grass in the yards? The growing season is well upon us, which in New Orleans means lawns will require mowing almost weekly. With tall grass comes all kinds of vermin. One more headache which we do not need.
I wrote here Saturday evening that the Final Four basketball playoffs were a welcome respite for our citizens. Well, hardly. We watched as Florida demolished upstart George Mason University in the late afternoon, and then had the privilege of watching UCLA hand LSU its head in the evening contest. Neither game was even close. Sunday morning in a 30 minute local news broadcast, not one word was uttered about the LSU loss. I suppose it hurts too bad. The LSU women are in their own Final Four, with their game Sunday night. Go, Lady Tigers.
Sunday morning at Oak Park Baptist Church in Algiers, a large team of volunteers from the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, SC, was on hand. With special guest speaker (and member of Oak Park) Col. Patricia Prechter of the National Guard to speak of her experiences in the Superdome during the Katrina event, a large group of her friends and people from the community came, making it the largest crowd in that sanctuary since the hurricane scattered the congregation.
If one likes titles, Pat Prechter is to be envied. She is Colonel, Dean, Doctor, and a lot of other things. According to Lt. Col. Marie McGregor, she is the first and only "full bird colonel" in the Medical Detachment of the La. National Guard. Academic Dean Judith Miranti of Holy Cross College, where Prechter is Dean of the Nursing School, said, "I make no claims about Pat being a steel magnolia. But it is her faith that has made her service so special."
I've learned this week of three church mergers being discussed in our Baptist association. Only one am I at liberty to mention. The flooded-and-decimated First Baptist Church of Arabi has voted to "merge" with Metairie's Celebration Church. This basically means their building site, soon to be bull-dozed and cleared off by St. Bernard Parish, will be deeded over to Celebration as will some of their financial assets. This will allow Celebration to begin an extension of their ministry there, on the other side of New Orleans.
Celebration Church is a Willow-Creek-model, I think it's fair to say, with cell groups meeting during the week. Pastor Dennis Watson is their founding pastor, having come from the First Baptist Church of Chalmette over 15 years ago, so he's familiar with the area of their new ministry. Celebration has grown to be one of our largest churches, second in the association only to Fred Luter's Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. Last year, just a few days before Katrina vented her wrath on our area, Celebration merged with Crescent City Baptist Church in Metairie, a congregation that had fallen onto hard times. They began having services at both sites, and the future looked great. The hurricane did a lot of damage at both locations, but flooded the larger Airline Drive site, with millions of dollars in damage. Volunteers restored the "Crescent City" site on Transcontinental, and they have been meeting there ever since. Work continues at the Airline location. Ministry tents occupy most of the parking lot.
With one of the other two merger discussions, leaders are discussing and praying and getting excited about what this could mean. As one pastor said to me Thursday, "I know the Lord can use small churches, but if you won't take this the wrong way, Joe..." I said, "Go ahead." "We are cursed with too many tiny, struggling churches in this city. We need some stronger churches with more effective ministries." I agree wholeheartedly.
I took some flack in this website months ago for saying this very thing. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not against small churches. I like to quote Francis Schaeffer: "There are no small churches and no big preachers." He makes a great point. But it's not entirely the case. A church is too small when it never has enough workers, never has enough money to do anything but keep its own building up, never sees beyond its front door. There are some great small churches and some that desperately need an infusion of members and vision and resources before they will become effective.
I am a product of a small, rural, wonderfully-effective church, the New Oak Grove Free Will Baptist Church of Nauvoo, Alabama. But it was the larger church in the city--Birmingham's West End Baptist Church--with a full-time staff, exciting youth ministries, and visionary laymen that built on the earlier foundation and had the greater impact on my life.