Joe McKeever

Not Helping Matters

When my nearly 91-year-old mother on the remote Alabama farm says she heard that New Orleans is the murder capital of the world, the secret is out.

I tried explaining that it's just New Orleans proper, not all the surrounding areas, that it's a per capita thing, not the total number of murders, and that with the population of the city less than half what it used to be, that is not necessarily a high number. But no matter. The damage is done.

Now the bad press is bearing fruit.

"Groups call off meetings in N.O.," trumpeted the headline in Friday's newspaper. Two medium-sized trade groups scheduled to bring some 6,000 visitors to town and use 12,000 rooms over a weekend and therefore help the local economy have canceled their conventions. The two associations cited the high crime rate and the problems of the city's slow recovery from the hurricane.

Argue all we want, it's a done deal. Point out that the National Association of Realtors brought 25,000 to town in November, that Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society brought in 24,000 in February, and the American College of Cardiology a whopping 30,000 just last week. They all reported successful meetings in our city. When contacted, spokespersons for the two smaller conventions that just canceled cited concerns over the "unfortunate events" that have occurred in the city recently--presumably, the killings--and their belief that their members will not want to journey to New Orleans for this meeting. Since both organizations have contracts with the Morial Convention Center, canceling will cost them some bucks.

A medical doctor called from Mississippi. He will be doing specialty training with a local hospital for a year or two, and wants to find employment for his wife who is a trained pastoral counselor. If they're unable to find her a position, he says, they will live on the Northshore (anywhere from Hammond to Covington to Slidell) and he would commute. "She's deathly afraid of moving to New Orleans," he said.

Giving Thanks

"Dear Joe: Enclosed is our check for $3,319.72. During the evacuation for Hurricane Katrina, Boulevard Baptist Church in Lake Charles was an evacuee site. A church in Decatur, Illinois sent them $4,000 to minister to Katrina's evacuees. This is the remainder of those funds, unused due to Hurricane Rita coming to town."

They sent the money in our direction so we could use it to minister to churches and pastors. Lynn in our office and I talked of several congregations in our association, then sent checks of $1,000 to three churches and a check for the remaining $319.72 to one of our pastors who will find a good use for it.

Such fun. One of my favorite things to do. I'll be writing a thank-you to Boulevard Baptist Church in Lake Charles and to their director of missions, my counterpart, J. P. Miles.

This afternoon, I wrote a thank-you to the Presbytery of South Louisiana. Those Presbyterians have quickly become some of our favorite people.

I've mentioned here how Pastor James "Boogie" Melerine of the Delacroix-Hope Baptist Church in St. Bernard Parish has seen his church attendance triple since Katrina, from 25 to 75, and that they're now meeting on his property while they look for a place to meet permanently. The little Creedmore Presbyterian Church down there has seen its membership dwindle over the years, and drastically as a result of Katrina. Boogie has talked to the remaining members about merging and investigated the possibility of buying the church buildings.

Today, Wednesday, Boogie brought a letter to our weekly pastors meeting, one he had received from The Rev. Dr. Alan Cutter, General Presbyter of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, headquartered in Baton Rouge. Here's the letter. You will recognize the final sentence as the one that drew the murmurs of appreciation from the 50 or so ministers and guests present.

Three Things I've Learned About Tithing

One. No one ever starts tithing if he waits until he can afford it.

Everyone I know needs a little more money than they have now. Suggest that they take the first 10 percent of their income and give it to the Lord through His church, and you've asked them to do something extremely difficult. It's a tremendous faith decision and was probably even meant by the Lord to be hard.

So, underline this, highlight it, capitalize it: BEGINNING TO TITHE IS TOUGH! Always has been, always will be--for everyone. No exception.

And yet, there is a little deception that plays in the back of our minds. "We will start tithing when we get the next raise." A better job. Past these bills. When the kids leave home. Come into our inheritance.

But it's a deception. It is not going to happen. If you're not tithing now, having more money is not going to make it easier to begin.

Anyone who begins to tithe does so when he cannot afford it. You just take it off the top, write that check and with perhaps a little fear and trepidation, give it to the Lord in prayer, and go forward. Faith.

Expect it to be hard for a while and for your fears to well back up each payday. Do not do this automatically; do it prayerfully. Let your check-writing and your offering-giving be acts of worship, both at the kitchen table and in the church pew.

We might should emphasize that tithing is not the end-all and be-all of the Christian. It's one aspect and only one of a full Christian life, one characterized by devotion to the Savior, dedication to the Word and prayer and worship, and by obedience in every area of life. We must never mislead some carnal church member to think that if he starts tithing, he's going to get something from God.

First, give yourself to the Lord, then give what you have to Him. In turn, He will give Himself and what He has to you, and you will come out the winner, believe me!

Two. After the first year or so, tithing becomes easier.

News You Might Have Missed

Two main items in the news caught my attention. First, the one about money.

Despite the money insurers have paid out to Katrina victims over the past year, we learn now that the big insurance companies have just had their best year ever. The Times-Picayune reports that Allstate--much maligned in this part of the world for its stingy payouts to their customers--earned a whopping $5 billion last year. State Farm's profits were up 65 percent. St. Paul Traveler's earnings rose sixfold in the fourth quarter, and American International Group (AIG) saw its profits rise eightfold. Profits are expected to be high in 2007 too.

Anyone smell a rat? Listen to some of these companies and you would think they are about to go belly-up and cannot afford to insure people in this part of the world any longer. (As obscene as the gas company profits are--and we're all stunned to learn of the billions they earn at a time when the gas prices keep going up--at no point do they suggest they ought to quit selling their product. Insurance companies do however.)

People who know tell us that insurers are themselves insured, that they do not bear the full weight of liability for the properties they insure, and that if a catastrophe hits, they are protected. Otherwise, one big hurricane could wipe them out. Okay, makes sense. And, apparently, that's what happened.

J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the non-profit Consumer Federation of America, is coming down hard on the insurance companies. Hunter says the reason their profits are so high is that they have used Katrina and other major hurricanes to justify "overpricing insurance, underpaying claims and reaping unjustified profits" at the expense of homeowners and business owners. He expects these companies will continue to prosper because they are increasing costs, upping deductibles, and excluding high risks from the policies.

Eileen Frank, a former resident of our state and an insurance broker in New York, disputes the insurance industry's claim that they have already paid out 95 percent of the claims made since Katrina. Many others are still pending, she says, and cites personal examples of being shunted from one adjuster to another with the people she was trying to help.

Frank gave an example of a homeowner whose insurance she handled recently. Prior to Katrina, he paid $2,000 a year for insurance; now it's three times that. Worse, the policy now has a deductible for wind damage in an amount equal to 5 percent of the house's value. That is, if my house is worth $200,000 and we have a hurricane, the first $10,000 of damage is my problem.

The Diverse People of This City

One reason this city has always held such a fascination to Americans is due to so many flavors of nationalities--people from all over the world live here. Case in point.

Saturday, down in St. Bernard Parish, the annual "Los Islenos Festival" was held, even though most of the members of this group are living elsewhere since Katrina. In the 1700s, residents of the Canary Islands moved to this most eastern of our bayou parishes and their people have been here ever since. The parish started the festival some 30 years ago to honor this part of their heritage.

And why were Canary Islanders of all people moving here? I've not been there, but we're told that the islands making up this little colony in the eastern Atlantic has some of the loveliest scenery on the planet. It turns out that Spain--owner of the Louisiana territory at that time--paid the Islanders to move here to protect the colony from the British, the Canary Islands being a Spanish territory.

Drive up the highway a few miles and we have neighborhoods populated by thousands of Vietnamese. West of New Orleans is a little fishing village named "Des Allemands." French for "The Germans." We have the Irish Channel and St. Patrick's Day parades and all kinds of Italian events. And did we say we have Cajuns?

We have several Korean Baptist churches in New Orleans, one Chinese, one Vietnamese, two Haitian, and at various times have had works with a number of French-speaking congregations as well as West Indian, Middle East, Portuguese-speaking, and such. And that's not to mention the dozen or so Hispanic churches.

Mostly, what you will find in our churches is a blend of members whose lineage can be traced to exotic locales on the globe but are now just Americans. I'm confident other large cities have the same situation--Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles--but it's so gratifying to see congregations whose makeup looks a lot like Heaven must.

Setting the Garbage on the Curb

It happened again this morning. In the pre-dawn hours I lay awake, unable to sleep. Anxieties were filling the room like ghosts in the night, trying to frighten and alarm me with varying degrees of success, but successfully robbing me of sleep. As always, I lay there sending up little prayers to the Father.

"Forgive me of my sin, Father. Help me. You are my Rock. You are my strength."

Lying there, I thought of all the reasons the Lord has for not hearing me. I'm such a poor Christian. My prayer life is so shallow. I read the Bible in the mornings and rarely give it another thought in the day. He takes care of my financial needs and still I worry. What kind of Christian am I. Why should He forgive me. What if the people I work with knew what a poor Christian I am.

And then this morning, He sent an answer.

I heard the garbage truck outside, running its usual early Saturday morning route. The motor revved as workers compacted the trash. Someone hollered. A can hit the pavement. The engine purred as the truck softly moved forward to the next house. The noises were oddly comforting, and then the Holy Spirit told me why.

The workers are taking away our garbage. The sanitation system has ways of dealing with it, places to dump it, methods for disposing of it. It will be gone; we will never see that trash again. Their system works--our streets are clean and our homes are free from the continual buildup of accumulated garbage and the unhealthy conditions that would produce. We owe a great debt to workers whom we rarely ever see.

In the same way, God removes the sin we have confessed. It is gone. We will walk outside later this morning and retrieve the garbage cans we set out last night. They will be empty. We will set them back in place inside the fence, ready to receive today's and tomorrow's garbage. That's the process; we believe in it and rarely question it.

Shouldn't we believe God just as strongly and surely? Shouldn't we take as fact that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9)

For the Record

No one questions that New Orleans proper has lost a major percentage of its pre-Katrina population, but the debate continues as to exact numbers. Now comes the first official U.S. Census Bureau numbers. Before the hurricane, the city showed 484,674 residents. The July 2006 number is 223,388--down by 54 percent. To no one's surprise, some are questioning the accuracy of this report.

The problem in counting population is that people are distributed so unevenly, which prevents pollsters from counting a few blocks in a neighborhood and then making assumptions for the entire area.

Anyway, here are some more numbers. The western half of metro New Orleans--Jefferson Parish--counts 431,361 residents, making it the most populous parish in the state. That's a 5 percent drop from the 2000 census. East Baton Rouge Parish comes in second now, with 429,073, up by 3.9 percent from 2000. To no one's surprise, the Baton Rouge folks are raising serious doubts about that. It would appear that that city's population has exploded, judging by two infallible barometers: the traffic and the cost of housing.

The folks on "New Orleans' Northshore"--that would be the Interstate 12 corridor from Hammond east to Covington and on to Slidell--are likewise arguing that their numbers are much higher than the census shows. Again, it's the traffic and the skyrocketing price for housing that convinces them the numbers are high.

Columnist Stephanie Grace writes that over a year ago she predicted that even though Governor Kathleen Blanco's popularity index was abysmally low, once she starts handing out billions of federal dollars to local homeowners that situation will reverse itself. She wrote, "There aren't too many politicians who can manage to look bad in those shoes."

Church Cartoons by Joe McKeever -- CD-ROM Volume 1

Introducing...

Church Cartoons by Joe McKeever, Vol. 1 -- on CD-ROM!

Over 200 Cartoon Illustrations for Church Bulletins, Newsletters, Presentations, and more... only $19.95!

Includes both large high-resolution images for printing, and smaller low-res versions perfect for the web or email.

Order your copy today!

Our readers know that I draw cartoons for religious papers and church bulletins. In fact, back in the 1980s, two other cartoonists and I put together 8 volumes of religious cartoons for use in the church office for newsletters and over the years sold some 300,000 copies. They are long since out of print, however. Good thing, because now putting artwork on CDs is the way to go. And that's what we've done

Most church offices are now able to handle this kind of technology. (It's a different day from when I started pastoring. Back then, high tech meant a mimeograph machine!) What I'd love for you to do is either purchase one yourself and give to the church office or print this out and hand to the person in your office who makes up the church bulletins, so he or she can order it. We've checked the market and believe ours to be lower priced than the others.

I'm always working at improving my cartooning, and I frequently pray that the Father will lead me in this. After all, He knows all His children and sees all our idiosyncrasies--and since He gave me this desire to draw cartoons for His people in the first place, I don't hesitate to look to Him for creative ideas.

Any way, thanks! Hope you enjoy them!

Smarter than Pigs

Tom Lester played "Eb" on the wonderful old "Green Acres" television series. He's semi-retired now and living on his family farm in Laurel, Mississippi. Tuesday, Tom and I were on the program together at the First Baptist Church of Covington's annual senior adult thing, and over lunch he told me this story about another star of "Green Acres," Arnold the pig.

"Pigs are smart," he said, "but not like dogs. A dog can learn all sorts of tricks because they want to please you. But a pig is like a cat. It's selfish. It thinks only of itself. So, people who work with pigs in movies and television have figured out that the way to get them to obey you is with food. First, they let them get hungry, and only then can they get them to obey."

"But," he continued, "as soon as the pig gets his belly full, he's not good for anything the rest of the day. So, they bring in another pig that looks like the first one and use him." At any given time, Arnold was a half-dozen pigs.

We laughed about that, thinking how like humans pigs are. We see it in church a lot. People go to this church or that one because, "I get fed there." Not: "I can serve the Lord there." And how many times have we heard people remark about a sermon that "I didn't get fed."

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

I found this in my notes from a Wednesday pastors meeting some weeks ago. We were talking about positive leadership in our congregations and communities.

Why We Tithe--Or Why We Don't

I was a sophomore in college when God began doing a special work in my life. I joined West End Baptist Church in Birmingham and jumped into all the activities I could work into my schedule. That's when the minister of education made a false assumption about me.

Ron Palmer stopped me in a church hallway one day and said, "I'd like you to give your tithing testimony in church." I said, "What is that?" He said, "Tell us your story, why you tithe your income to the Lord through the church." I said, "What is this word 'tithe'?" I could not remember ever hearing it before.

Ron explained that to tithe is to give one dollar out of every ten to the Lord through our church. I said, "Well, in that case, I can't tell my story because I don't do that." At the time, I had almost no income--I worked Saturdays selling men's clothing at the National Shirt Shop downtown. What little giving I did in church was infrequent and miniscule.

It was several years before I started tithing, and even then I struggled with it for the next decade. Part of the struggle was just doing it--when you're in seminary or getting started in those early poor-paying pastorates, every bill that arrives in the mail is a challenge--and the other part was coming to terms with the doctrine itself. Is this something God expects of us? Where is this taught in the Bible? Since most all the references are Old Testament, wasn't that Jewish and not Christian?

Recently on my website I reported talks given by two ministers to a small group of pastors and seminary students in which both happened to mention tithing. One church is in Texas and the other Georgia, but both require their teachers and staffers to tithe. One speaker had said his accountant does the tax returns of 600 ministers and had found that only one-fourth of them were tithers. The pastor had concluded a lot of ministers are not living up to what they preach.

In the "comments" section of our website, where readers can register their opinions and reactions to articles, one fellow exploded in anger, accusing me of hypocrisy of the worst sort. When I tried to respond, I found that his website was all about promoting his book against tithing and that his computer blocked my message. I also discovered some of my friends wanted to weigh in on the subject of tithing.

That's the purpose of this little article. At the end, you are invited to tell us why you tithe or why you don't. Disagreements and differences are welcome. Just be respectful.

SEVEN CHURCHES: The Initial Run of "Unlimited Partnerships"

This is Bill Taylor's brain child. Officially retired from Lifeway Christian Resources as their senior educational consultant--Southern Baptists' Mr. Sunday School--Bill now works for the North American Mission Board as a "senior strategist." On numerous occasions he has spent several days in our part of the world and with churches on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, looking for a key way to make a difference.

Out of that search came "Unlimited Partnerships." Bill began to imagine a plan by which we could match a gifted and dedicated seminary student with one of our local needy churches to serve a year or more in the area of education and evangelism. He imagined large churches in the SBC led by consecrated pastors who would want to pay the salaries of these students. Then, he set out to make it happen.

"We couldn't have done it without David Hankins," Bill Taylor said, referring to the executive of Louisiana Baptists. "When he first heard of this, he told me, 'Bill, this is the right thing to do. Even if you can't find the sponsoring churches, we will back it.'" But it wasn't necessary. "It wasn't a matter of dollars," Bill explained. "This was all about matching up enterprising students with responsive churches and successful sponsors who could teach them and mentor them."

The program kicked off March 1, with 7 students working out of 7 of our churches. This is the pilot program, a test run by which we find out what works and what doesn't. We're finding our way.

For the record, here are the seven churches.

Three New Orleans Churches

The West St. Charles Baptist Church of Boutte would argue that they're not in New Orleans. Strictly speaking, they're 20 miles or so west of the city, located on U.S. 90 in the middle of a growing segment of suburbia. But everything about the communities of Boutte, Lakewood, and Luling depends on their proximity to New Orleans, so we'll not split hairs.

I preached for them Sunday morning, emphasizing two points the Lord has laid on my heart to carry to our churches these days: the role and responsibility of pastors from Acts 20:28 and the responsibility of church members from Hebrews 13:17. Since WSCBC is pastorless, this is a good time to try to affect their philosophy on these matters.

In the late 1970s--in the days of the oil boom down here--this church was regularly featured by the denomination as one of our fastest growing churches in America. The oil bust came along in the mid-80s and people moved out, then the church went through a succession of pastors and these days, they struggle to hit 100. But they are a wonderful group of folks and situated to have an incredible ministry, if.... If they get the right pastor and if they support him.

We will appreciate your prayers for West St. Charles Baptist Church.

The First Baptist Church of Westwego is located a half dozen blocks north of U.S. 90 some 15 miles back toward New Orleans. Jay Adkins has been their pastor for the last half dozen years, and it seems to me the church is doing very well. The last time I worshiped with them, their sanctuary was gutted out, boxes of supplies to be distributed in the community lined one wall, and you could see the sunlight shining through the blue tarp overhead. But no more.

The Times-Picayune on a Sunday Morning

I used to not have time to read the paper before heading to Sunday School and church, but these days, with a job that sends me to churches all over the five-parish area to preach or to visit, the schedule often allows for leisurely mornings with the paper. Today, I'm preaching at West St. Charles Baptist Church at Boutte at 10:45 am. I recommend these quiet mornings.

Why we read obituaries.

Now, my mama reads the obituaries in her Daily Mountain Eagle to see if she knows the people who died, and as a nearly 91-year-old native of Walker County, Alabama, she frequently does. We pastors read them to make certain we stay current with deaths in our extended church family. But there's another reason: many are just interesting.

Here is the opening sentence in an obituary in today's paper: "Helen (Pearlie) Marie Falcon Gallagher of New Orleans, LA, completed the long goodbye on March 14, 2007, at the age of 85 in Tulsa, OK, her city of residence since September 2005." That being the date of the evacuation from Katrina. "Completed the long goodbye." Fascinating. Wonder what they meant.

The article goes on to identify her as a "WW II Navy wife" and "family keeper of written memories." Every clan needs such a keeper; I hope yours has one.

Most of the obits are fairly vanilla, but occasionally gleams of gold shine through. John Cosmo Centanni was 80 when he died on March 14, and as a Marine in World War II received the Purple Heart for his service on Iwo Jima. Best I can figure out, he would have been 18 years old at the time of that battle. Not doubting the report, just noting it. Toward the end of the obit is this: "He was very generous and loving. He loved his wife and children more than anything in the world. His larger than life personality touched many people. He loved life. We will miss his love every day that goes by. Daddy, you did it your way."

Saturday, I was entering Home Depot at the same time an elderly gentleman came in pushing a cart. He was really dressed up--sports coat, white shirt, tie, etc. I said, "Sir, you are one of the few people who know the right way to dress when you come to Home Depot!" He smiled and said, "I just came from the funeral parlor." I said, "Oh. God bless you, sir."

Telling Your Story Again and Again

First the story, then a few observations.

A Methodist minister goes to the door and finds a stranger standing there. "Sir," the man said, "I'm new in town and need a preacher for a funeral." The Methodist minister invites him in, and the man continues, "The funeral is for my little dog that died yesterday."

The minister said, "Well, you know we don't really do funerals for animals. Why don't you just bury him and say a few words yourself?" The man said, "This dog was like a member of our family. We're heartbroken over its death, and well, we just wanted to give him a good send-off."

"I'm not going to be able to help you," the minister said, "but the Baptist pastor lives three doors down the street. You might ask him." The man thanked him and as he was turning away, he said, "Oh, by the way, Reverend, what would be an appropriate amount to give the minister for the funeral? I was thinking of five thousand dollars."

"Come back in the house," the minister said. "Why didn't you tell me that dog was a Methodist?"

One of our pastors told that story last Wednesday at our weekly pastors' gathering. It went over big, leading me to believe that it was new to many. Either that, or they were just enjoying an old friend again.

Over the years, inflation has messed with that story. The first time I heard it, the amount was fifty dollars. It takes more to catch our fancy than it used to, I suppose. If there are forensic humorists out there, someone could probably track the origins of that joke down and discover that originally the amount was five dollars or something.

Some stories take on lives of their own and seem to live forever. And with the internet, no doubt my great-grandchildren will some day hear that joke--by then, the figure will be five million!--and pass it on to their friends.

What you wonder is why Readers Digest keeps printing new jokes. Since each new generation has not heard the stories of the previous one, they could recycle every story every decade or two and get by with it.

A good story is like a good song: it bears repetition and each performer gives it his own rendering.

What Rededication Means

Fifty feet from the 17th Street Canal--the one which burst on August 29, 2005, drowning much of the Lakeview section of New Orleans--sits Pontchartrain Baptist Church. The new Pontchartrain Baptist Church, if you will.

Previously, it was a small red-brick sanctuary fronting Robert E. Lee Boulevard with a two-story white-block educational building down the side. Over 40 years ago, as a young seminarian I taught the couples' Sunday School class in an upstairs room and led the worship inside the sanctuary. My classmate Vaughan Pruitt was the pastor. When the canal's levee broke, the water cascaded across the street and destroyed most everything in its path.

The educational building has been torn down. Pastor Jerry Smith says it's not particularly because of the storm damage, but the result of the shifting foundation. "It was built in the days when pilings were not required, and was beginning to tilt."

A church in Jackson, Mississippi, has adopted Pontchartrain Church and its members have worked hard to bring the building back to speed. The latest thing they did was to paint the outside. It's no longer a red brick building; now it's white brick. And beautiful, if I may say so.

The sanctuary building is all that remains for nearly a block in every direction. Houses on all sides have been demolished, and the vacant lots surrounding the church have left it isolated like an island.

The new sign in front of the church announces: "REDEDICATION, April 1, 10:00 am. You're invited."

Three Churches: Two Exciting, One Needing

Metairie Baptist Church is in an unusual situation these days. First, this wonderful old traditional church in the heart of what we call "old Metairie" (translation: old money) has as its pastor seminary professor Dr. Thomas Strong. The church called Bob Cole to handle weekday pastoral functions so Thomas can continue serving at both places.

And secondly, they're going through some significant changes. Thomas is leading the church in a FAITH evangelistic ministry. Recently, he told me, "We have 42 people participating in FAITH this semester. On a recent Sunday we did door to door visitation. I've discovered that despite what people may say, door-to-door visiting is not a thing of the past. In the process of the day, we had the opportunity to knock on 96 doors and talked to about half of them (42, I think). We were doing an opinion poll that would lead to the gospel presentation. We shared the gospel with seven people! That is a huge praise."

"Also," Thomas said, "we offered the ministry at Metairie Baptist Church to the other 36 homes we visited. This now happens on a regular basis as the church is getting turned on to telling others. I am so thankful to see what God is doing by empowering the church for mission through FAITH."

MBC is hosting our NAMB chaplain Joe Williams in a "Coping with Loss" conference, and their women's ministry is flourishing under Terry Dickson (who heads the associational women's ministry).

These are significant changes for this church. "Only God could do these things at MBC," Thomas said and added, "I am rejoicing daily that he has let me be a part of it."

Second Church: First Baptist Church of Avondale on the West Bank.

A Ministry Called "Where Y'At!"

"Thirteen years ago, this friend turned me down," Freddie Arnold told the pastors at Wednesday's meeting. "I was trying to recondition an old school bus for mission trips and I felt led to ask a certain member of my church to pay for it. He wasn't able to--in spite of my knowing for certain the Lord led me to ask him--and nothing was ever done. We finally sold the old bus. That friend called this week."

"He said, 'I couldn't help you 13 years ago, but the Lord has not let me alone about that.'" He knew Freddie is deeply involved in the rebuilding of this city, so informed him he is sending a sizeable check for the work here. Freddie said, "That will allow us to update our disaster relief van and buy some additional equipment."

"I have an announcement for some of you pastors," Freddie said. "The salary supplements several of you have been receiving are being phased out as of June 1. They will be reassessed at that time."

Apparently--and we have no argument with this--our state leadership has decided that after over 18 months of post-Katrina existence, our pastors should be on their feet. Either their church should be back to the point of supporting them, they should have a job on the side to supplement their church income, or they should be thinking of moving on to a pastorate outside this hurricane area.

Freddie announced that Lifeway Christian Resources had sent us preschool and children's books for a new church library. "See me," he said to the pastor who was quick to volunteer that his church was in the process of creating a new library.

Speaking of Lifeway, John Moore was with us. John served for 30 years in student ministry with the Louisiana Baptist Convention before moving "to the dark side," as he jokingly put it, meaning the denominational headquarters in Nashville. "I want you to know that Lifeway is partnering with you," he said. "We have sent $1.5 million in non-Cooperative Program funds to the Louisiana Baptist Convention for disaster relief work. We sent $750,000 to the seminary. And we're putting money into the Unlimited Partnerships."

"Furthermore," John said, "Bruce Raley of Lifeway is working to bring religious education people to staff your Ridgecrest-on-the-River conference this September. The ministers of education will be available at no cost for workshops in your churches, too. Bruce says these guys are hearing about this and calling to say, 'Sign me up for New Orleans.'"

A Letter to the Editor

Some months ago, we reported here that the city had blown it again, that City Hall had awarded the trash contract for the French Quarter to a company with no trucks and no history of this kind of work. A few weeks before the work was to begin, they still had no trucks and no personnel. You could predict how this was going to turn out.

We were all wrong. The company called SDT has the most gorgeous shiny black garbage trucks you've ever seen (I predict Hummer owners will soon be trading up for one!) and employees who take a great deal of pride in what they're doing. I think we've reported previously an account of the supervisor following the truck through the Quarter in her car, making sure no motorist pulls around the truck--lots of sanitation workers get killed that way--and seeing that every scrap of paper is picked up and the garbage cans replaced neatly.

Wednesday morning, someone wrote to the editor of following an SDT truck through the Quarter and seeing the driver stop, get out and pick up a single cup someone had tossed in the street, then driving on. Alan Petro said, "I just want to say thank you, SDT. You are doing an incredible job."

It's so inspiring to see people do their work well.

What Can One Person Do?

After the recent series of scary articles the local newspaper ran on the disappearing coastline of this state and the urgent need for action, a citizen wrote the editor to ask the obvious question: What can one person do?

Steve Saucier said he is a fisherman who sees with his own eyes what is happening to the land south of here. He drives his boat over what used to be high ground. He studies the comparative photos showing what the coastal wetlands used to look like and how they appear now, and he is frightened. But he's only one person, not a government agency, and what can he possibly do?

The editor responded Monday, and admitted that the natural reaction to this overwhelming situation is to feel helpless. "But as we have seen since Hurricane Katrina, individuals banding together can accomplish the unthinkable." Then, he (or she) gave several examples.

Pre-K, South Louisiana was protected from the water by levees which in turn were overseen (that was the theory at any rate) by a multiplicity of levee boards. Every parish had its levee boards, and some had more than one. And if anyone had stood up and called for these tiny agencies of political patronage to be consolidated, he would have been laughed out of town.

But Post-Katrina, citizens demanded consolidation and that's what we now have.

Pre-K, the state legislature let New Orleans alone with its odd system of seven tax assessors for the one parish. This created the most bizarre situations where similar houses across the street from each other, but in different zones, were assessed by totally different standards and the owners paid vastly different tax bills. The assessors seemed to inherit their jobs, some being passed down in the same family for generations.

Post-K, the citizens called for a stop to this monkey-business and a state constitutional amendment was passed to create a single assessor's office, the way the rest of the world operates.

In the same way, says our editor, citizens can attack the problem of coastal erosion. Speak up, band together, get to work, and refuse to be silenced.

The Main Lesson

"I've learned one thing from this whole Katrina experience," said Dr. Chuck Kelley Saturday morning. He was addressing members of the NOBTS Foundation Board in their annual on-campus gathering. "What I've learned is this: Do Not Be Afraid."

Dr. Kelley said, "Tragedy dogs the footsteps of every great Christian through the centuries." He backed that up with stories of the hardships various saints have been called on to endure. And in our time, we are called upon to deal with the destruction and rebuilding of this city.

The gentleman who prayed the benediction said, "Lord, we thank you for Katrina. It was your will." That was a sobering thought, and one I've never been bold enough to make. Once we claim that, immediately loved ones of the thousand-plus who lost their lives in this hurricane/flood demand some answers from us. If it is true, however, it means the Lord does not put the same value on houses and furniture that we do. For starters.

I sat in the meeting jotting down the lessons I've learned--and that I think our people have learned--from this Katrina experience.

What to Do With Saints

Bill Rogers, the 30-year pastor of Grace Baptist Church in the Bywater section of the Upper 9th Ward, has resigned, effective April 1. Charlie Dale has been in place the last two years as Bill's associate pastor, with the understanding that he would get the job once the pastor retired. Charlie is so humble, he was willing to grant the church the freedom to revisit the issue, but the leaders were firm: you will be our new pastor.

We have reported here previously how Bill Rogers received his doctorate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville last December. He's youthful and has a lot to offer. Barataria Baptist Church down in the fascinating little community of Jean Lafitte, LA, has asked him to come down and preach for them this Sunday.

Meanwhile, Grace is hosting a group from North Richland Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth over the next week. They will be painting the inside of Douglass High School, just across the street from Grace. On Wednesday, they'll serve hamburgers at the church for the faculty and staff of the school. Thursday, they'll have a block party with a live band (those dead bands are such a drag!), food, and fun. I'll be there, sketching people. Then, on Sunday March 18, Joe Williams our NAMB chaplain will be leading a "Coping With Life's Losses" conference at the church. The Texas youth will be covering the neighborhood during the week to invite everyone.

Grace Baptist Church is asking all of us to make the next few days "pray for the Bywater" time.

We found out today that Shiloh Baptist Church on North Claiborne Street is up and running. They've been shut down since Katrina. Pastor Edward Scott had relocated out of the state. Today, Friday, Freddie Arnold ran into Michael Raymond--whose church in the lower 9th ward was put out of business--and he reported that he's been preaching for the Shiloh group.

This brings our total number of churches up to 93. That compares to 145 before Katrina.

Not So Good Hands, It Seems

Someone e-mailed us asking about State Farm Insurance, saying they had heard our city had had real difficulties with the firm and wondering if they should cancel their policies in support. I replied that the true culprit--if you ask the average New Orleanian--is Allstate rather than State Farm. (I've been a State Farm policyholder for over 30 years and have had only good experiences with them. My home is insured by American National and they were more than fair in our post-hurricane dealings.)

Recently, Allstate sent cancellation notices to 4,772 policyholders in our part of the world, informing homeowners that "since this house is unoccupied" they were ending the policy. The Times-Picayune did story after story on residents who have rebuilt their homes and who have been living in them many months, but who received those cancellations. It turns out that Allstate's investigators had done drive-by inspections only, spending an average of 60 seconds per house.

Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has ordered Allstate to re-instate all those policies immediately and to redo the inspections. Today, Friday, the newspaper announces that the insurance company is appealing that decision to The Division of Administrative Law, a state body which handles disputes with state agencies. A judge will listen to both sides and issue a ruling. The hearing must take place within 30 days.

Earlier, the state had informed insurers that they could begin canceling policies on any damaged property on which repairs had not begun by March 1.

After some 600 policyholders complained to Donelon about the cancellations, he sent his people into the city to test 18 of the complaints. In each case, they reported it should have been obvious to anyone--even sitting in his car on the streets!--that the homes were occupied.

By an odd coincidence, January's Sugar Bowl in our city was sponsored by Allstate. A number of unhappy policy-holders pointed out the irony of that. I don't know how long the contract has to run, but I'll betcha it will not be renewed. This is one company locals do not like.

Quick rundown of local stuff.

Seizing the Day

We began our weekly pastor's meeting with the monthly "Executive Committee" meeting of our association of Baptist churches. John Galey, vice-moderator and pastor of Poydras Baptist Church, presided.

Scott Smith, chair of the administrative committee, reported that his committee had approved money for the Disciple-Now youth activities this spring and money for a Spanish Sunday School conference in June.

Scott told how his church (Highland, Metairie) received a phone call last week. "Someone was calling from Georgetown University of Washington, DC. They had a group of 20 students coming down to gut out houses in the 9th Ward and their accommodations had fallen through. They got our name from the FEMA list and wondered if they could stay with us."

Scott explained that this is a terrific group of young adults, very respectful, hard-working. "They even attended our Sunday night worship service," he said, and added with a grin, "I don't think many of them are Christians. Just think--now we've got the world coming to us!"

Keith Maddox is the new interim manager of Camp Living Waters, the historic campground at Robert, Louisiana, jointly owned by our association and several others in this part of the state. He has resigned West St. Charles Baptist Church of Boutte where he served as worship leader and youth/education man for the past decade. Already, Keith has made a big difference in that camp, and is urging our churches to bring their people for conferences. I told the pastors, "If ever there was a man matched to a position, I believe it's Keith Maddox and Camp Living Waters."

Rudy French reported on the ribbon-cutting at FBC Norco last Saturday. "We registered over 140 people, and heard some great messages. Two hours of them, in fact." He went on to say that the present accommodations can take care of 20 guests per night, but he's got 35 coming next week. "Eventually, I want to be able to host 80 people," he said.

A residual effect of the new vision Rudy has brought to that church is the 8 visitors they had in church Sunday. One young woman prayed to receive Christ in the service.

Billy Joel and John Wesley

Tuesday night, our family attended the Billy Joel concert at the New Orleans Arena along with 10 or 15 thousand of our closest friends. If you like Joel's music--"Piano Man," "The Longest Time," "She's Always a Woman to Me"--you'll understand why a couple of oldsters like Margaret and me were there. Not many our age made the trek, though. Too much trouble. Too expensive (tickets were over 80 bucks). Easier to buy the CD and stay home.

In a word, he was great. He gave a terrific show; he is an incredible musician. But it was loud. Man, was it loud. Some of the numbers, I sat there thinking, "I'm sure there is a kernel of music somewhere on the inside of all that noise." But I think I know why they made it so loud, added the blinding lights, and rocked that building: for the young people. He was appealing to the youth. And apparently he did, because they were there in surprising strength. They knew the words better than I did.

Couple of times I thought my cell phone was going off. It was my body vibrating.

At the end, I decided that even though Billy Joel is of my generation or close to it, I am most definitely not his target audience. And I'm okay by that.

Earlier that evening before we left the house, our back door neighbor Bill called as I was setting out the garbage cans. "Joe, you got a minute?" I said, "Just about that."

He said, "I preached a sermon recently, and now my home church wants me to preach it there. I need your help."

Bill is a United Methodist. He owns a farm in the country and lives and works here in the city. We've been neighbors 13 years. He's a good guy. Quiet. A family man.

"What did you preach about?" I asked. He said, "That we need to return Methodism to the old ways." I said, "What old ways?" He answered, "To the ways of John Wesley."

I said, "Okay, so what are the bad things you see in your denomination these days?" He answered, "Hillary Clinton is a Methodist." That is exactly what he said.

The Time For Tears is Past

I'll begin with some good news: Kenneth and Angela Foy are back after an absence of 18 months. For years, he was pastor of New Life Baptist Mission on Gentilly, not far from the seminary campus, while also serving as a counselor at our Brantley Baptist Center for the homeless. Angela worked as a legal secretary for a downtown law firm, alongside my daughter-in-law Julie.

"We evacuated to Grove City, Ohio," they said. They attended the First Baptist Church there. "We were surprised to find they were Southern Baptists and they were surprised to find we were, too!" they laughed. "Those are the most wonderful people," they said, referring to the church members and Pastor Jerry Neal. Angela said, "They hated to see us go."

It's still uncertain what they will do here, now that they're back. The law firm long ago filled the vacancy left by Angela's absence, and Kenneth and his scattered congregation had to sell their small church building. "We couldn't handle the mortgage plus our house payment in Ohio." Now, they've got their Ohio house on the market and planning to return to New Orleans permanently.

"We thought about relocating to Baton Rouge," one of them said. "But we ran into someone here who said, 'What do you mean going to Baton Rouge! We need you here!'" Kenneth said, "I couldn't get that voice out of my mind. I think the Lord was using her to tell us we're supposed to be in New Orleans."

I've written the Ohio pastor to thank the church for taking such good care of the Foys. In the meantime, Kenneth is looking for opportunities to preach. These days, we have very few African-American churches and the ones we do have, post-Katrina, are struggling to make a go of it. We'll appreciate prayers for the Foys.

John Claypool used to preach a sermon which he entitled, "Good Luck, Bad Luck--Who Is To Say?" The story on which he based the message is priceless. (Preachers, take note!)

Urgent--So Pace Yourself

The front page of Sunday's Times-Picayune begins a three day series on "The Fight to Save a Disappearing Coast," referring to the wetlands between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. "LAST CHANCE," booms the headline across the top of the page.

Kerry St. Pe is the director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, an effort to save one of the Gulf Coast's most fragile and critical zones. A map on his office wall shows the satellite image of the great expanse of marshes which protect New Orleans from the ocean which we call the Gulf of Mexico. On the picture is a warning, announcing that these marshes will vanish by the year 2040. When that happens, the sea will be at New Orleans' doorstep.

That map was produced 3 years ago. And it's dead wrong.

St. Pe says, "People think we still have 20, 30, 40 years left to get this done. They're not even close."

"Ten years is how much time we have left--if that."

What Missionaries Do

I told the children, "People think of missionaries as unusual people who go to strange lands and do amazing things. But the facts are far different. Missionaries are normal people who go anywhere--perhaps to your own town--and they do simple things."

"Basically, what they do," I said, "are four things: 1) they talk to people; 2) they build relationships with people; 3) they ask questions; and 4) they look for ways to help people."

From 600 to 800 children and their adult church workers gathered Saturday for the annual Mission Jamboree (M-Jam) conducted by the Louisiana Baptist Convention's Women's Ministry Division of which Janie Wise is the leader. We met at Louisiana College in Pineville. Jim Chester--Baptist preacher, funny-funny man, and magician/illusionist--formed the parenthesis for the day's conferences by doing a program at the beginning and the end of the day. He was as effective as I've ever seen anyone with hundreds of children. Every pastor who watches Jim do what he does will run out and buy himself a magic kit. He's that good. And he frequently ties in his tricks with spiritual lessons.

In between Jim's stuff, several of us "missionaries" were leading four conferences, back to back, with the group divided into segments that would fit into the smaller auditoriums.

After telling what missionaries do, I gave the children a sterling example of the 21 volunteers from the First Baptist Church of Buford, Georgia, who worked in New Orleans this week.

I Almost Screamed When I Read This

First, the background. A couple of days ago, the Times-Picayune ran a feature about St. Mark's Catholic Church and School in Chalmette. That would be in St. Bernard Parish, of course. They ran a photo of a classroom filled with hurricane and flood debris that has not been touched since Katrina hit over 18 months ago. Catholics are incensed, of course, but most have come to accept that due to the scope of this disaster, the decreased population, and the limited funds of the diocese, some of their churches are closed forever.

Thursday, this letter to the editor ran. The writer is listed as Rita Oalmann of the community of St. Bernard.

"I was appalled to see that St. Mark Catholic Church in Chalmette had not been cleaned out yet."

"The Archdiocese of New Orleans should have called the Baptists. They would have cleaned it out, no questions asked, as they have been and still are doing at other locations in St. Bernard Parish."

You can't buy that kind of great publicity.

And in other news....

Think You Can, Think You Can't

Rudy French is teaching us all lessons on faith. When someone mentioned at our Wednesday pastors meeting that he had seen the signs from FBC-Norco inviting everyone to the ribbon-cutting of the church's new mission center this coming Saturday--March 3, 11 am--Rudy told this story.

"They tell me that Henry Ford used to have a sign on his desk that said: 'Think You Can. Think You Can't. Either Way, You're Right.' Well, every church has some 'think you can't' members. And even after all the wonderful things the Lord has done at First, Norco, we still have some like that. I wanted to advertise for our dedication this Saturday but some people just don't see the need. It costs money. Then I saw these little 'stick in the ground' signs. They cost 10 dollars each. I didn't have the money, but I bought 30, and we put them up around the area. Some of you saw them in LaPlace."

"Our ribbon-cutting is not until this Saturday, but would you believe, we had four visitors last Sunday--people who saw our signs and decided to come worship with us! And just think what's going to happen on Saturday!"

Rudy laughed and told how the sign in front of that church was still advertising Christmas services. He told a church member that it should be changed every week, and the man volunteered to see to it. "I looked out the other day and he was up on the ladder putting up the letters. And the man holding the ladder for him was our oldest member--89 years old! Neither one of them have very good eyesight. They would pick up a letter and squint at it and say, 'Does this look like an 'A'?" But praise God, they're keeping that sign up to date and even thinking up good sayings to put on it!"

Steve Gahagan, Operation NOAH Rebuild, told the 35 pastors present of a woman calling their offices this week, shouting, "I got it! I got my money!" She had received a check for the full amount the Louisiana Recovery Authority is awarding people with damaged homes, over $150,000. She was ecstatic. Steve said, "That's about to happen more and more. We've been moving slow about rebuilding because we didn't have money to buy the materials. But as more and more people get their money, that's not going to be the problem."