New Orleans Pastors Survive on Prayer

Diversity and Synergy: How Baptists Operate Best
from Joe McKeever

Today was our first Wednesday pastors' gathering at Oak Park Baptist
Church in the Algiers section of New Orleans. We began at 10 as
advertised, but they straggled in for the first fifteen minutes,
until our final number topped out in the early 40s. Bruce Nolan,
religion editor for the Times-Picayune, sat among us today for the
first time. Monday, it had occurred to me he might be interested in
this meeting of pastors, particularly since it has meet weekly since
last September and shows hardly any sign of slacking off.

Whoever shows up is the program. Today, that meant Freddie Arnold,
Joe Williams, Gary Mitchell, Steve Gahagan, and the usual suspects.
What makes it special is that it's always different. What each one
shares is never the same. I often think of the line from I
Corinthians 14 that in the early church worship services, one would
come with a song, another comes with a message from the Lord,
another a testimony, and so on.

Freddie Arnold reported on his meeting last week with all disaster
relief workers in Arlington, Texas, his "On Mission Celebration" in
Cullman, Alabama, the week before, and another gathering or two
along the way he's attended. Freddie reports to outsiders that the
SBC disaster relief teams which descended on New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast after the hurricane established a high reputation here
for integrity, that they helped to create a spiritual environment
which enhanced the Billy & Franklin Graham crusades which were so
well-attended and so fruitful, and that they provided a ray of hope
in a dark, dark situation all across this area. He reported that in
last week's Arlington meeting, a representative of the Internation
Mission Board presented a check for $800 from a small group of
Muslims from Southeast Asia, men whose areas had been so hurt by the
tsunami. For each of the men, their gift represented one month's
income. It is precious in the Lord's sight and in ours.

In the Arlington meeting, Freddie Arnold was one of several to
receive the Distinguished Service Award in DR work. He receives our
vote for being awarded the whole shooting match.

Joe Williams continues holding his "Ministry Fatigue Seminars" for
our ministers and spouses. "We've refined it now to 10 am to 2 pm,
including lunch." He is finding that one aspect of the fatigue of
ministers is that they cannot free up large blocks of time to devote
to these seminars. Joe said, "We are providing some material for
workers with pre-school children in your church," referring to a
stack of books entitled "Helping Children Rebound."

Gary Mitchell works with bi-vocational and small-church pastors for
the Louisiana Baptist Convention. The denominational wide group of
which he is a part had planned to hold their 2006 meeting on the
campus of our local seminary. After the hurricane, they tried to
move the meeting to Covington on the northshore where they found a
meeting place, but no hotels. Finally, the Pearl River Baptist
Association in McNeill, Mississippi, opened their camp to the group
and they will be meeting there the end of this week, and driving
down to see New Orleans. Gary said, "We took McKeever up on a recent
invitation in his blog to 'come and see.'" They will overflow the
128 beds the PRBA camp has available, spilling onto floors and into
RVs.

Steve Gahagan is the newly-arrived construction manager for Project
NOAH, the arm of our North American Mission Board that is setting up
to organize the volunteer efforts of thousands over the next two
years as they arrive to assist in the rebuilding of this city. Steve
used to be a construction supervisor for Habitat for Humanity in
South Carolina and his wife Dianne has great administrative skills.
So Dianne will run the office for NOAH, in a building NAMB provided
for their use at nearby Calvary Baptist Church. They're living in
one of the ministerial homes owned by Oak Park. We are so blessed to
have NAMB's direct involvement here, and particularly honored to
have Steve and Dianne, workers whom the Lord seems to have prepared
for just such leadership roles.

Joe Kay is the interim associate pastor and, as he says, "Minister
of Miscellaneous," at our host church, Oak Park. As he welcomed us
and told of the lunch plans, he got everyone's full attention when
he said, "Our church has a 15 passenger 1996 Ford van to give to one
of you. It needs a brake job. See me afterwards." Someone said, "The
line forms in the rear of the auditorium." Sure enough, at lunch,
three pastors came by to ask that their name be added to the "van
lottery". Joe took their information and said, "We have a committee
on this. I'll pass it along."

David Crosby, pastor of FBC-NO, reported on the progress of the
Baptist Crossroads aim of constructing 40 new Habitat for Humanity
homes in the Ninth Ward this summer using volunteer labor. He urged
everyone to send representatives this Saturday to a preparation
meeting for the August 26 "Just Give Me Jesus" women's meeting at
the New Orleans Arena with Anne Graham Lotz. He added, "Anne is the
best preacher in this generation of the Billy Graham family."

At lunch Steve Gahagan said to Dianne, who had missed part of the
meeting, "I was so struck by something today. At one point, Joe
called on the pastor of the Vietnamese Baptist Church to give a
report. He was followed by the pastor of the Korean Church, and he
by the pastor of the Haitian Church, and then the pastor of the
Chinese Church. After them, came the Spanish and the
African-Americans and then the Anglos. It was really something."

What struck me today was the synergy of our relationships. One
pastor would get up and express a need for something and someone
would raise his hand and say, "I can do that" or "I've got it." When
Jay Adkins of FBC Westwego told the group he had a scheduling
problem and has two large teams of volunteers descending on him the
same week in June and that he needs help to accommodate them, John
Galey of Poydras raised his hand. "I can take them." Jay told what
would be required--the group John is volunteering to take is over
100 men--and John assured him they could take care of it. Another
pastor nearby raised his hand and said, "We'll be his backup. If he
needs help, we'll be there."

Galey told the group about the First Baptist Church of Kenner
providing all the wall board for their rebuilt sanctuary. Alberto
Rivera told of the First Baptist Church of New Orleans partnering
with them to restore their sanctuary.

Jeff Box walked in toward the last of our gathering. Everyone was
excited to hear of the return of Suburban Baptist Church. "I am so
excited about ministry in New Orleans right now," he said. Jeff's
excitement may have another cause: on May 13, he receives his
master's degree from the seminary.

I asked Religion Editor Bruce Nolan in a phone call Wednesday
afternoon for his main impression after this morning's meeting. "I
was struck by the diversity of the group," he said. "Far more than I
would have expected in Southern Baptists." He added, "And I was
struck by the cooperation and collaboration of your pastors. One had
a need and another raised his hand and took care of it." That
happened several times. Bruce said, "I got four or five stories out
of the meeting today."

I have finally figured something out.

Every Wednesday, I leave these pastors meetings on a high. The
turnout is great, the participation excellent, the spirit of
everyone so Christlike, and the information shared so helpful.
Pastors who never attended anything we did before have become
mainstays, friendships for a lifetime are bonding, and love
permeates the place. And it finally dawned on me.

Someone is praying.

Everywhere I go away from here, people come up to tell me they pray
for us. Some say, "I've never met you, but I pray for you every
day." I am so touched and we are so honored, and I tell them so. But
today, it finally occurred to me that this is the reason these
Wednesday gatherings are so right. Christ is in this place and
people are lifting us up.

We sincerely thank you. And we promise you this: when it's all over,
the miracle of the new New Orleans will be yours. I agree with Jeff
Box. This is a great time to be ministering in this city. But the
main reason is because of the lovely men and women of God who come
to assist us. I'm 66 years old and started pastoring in 1962, and I
have never had more fun, never shed more tears, never hurt more
often or in a deeper way, and never prayed better than right now.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for the honor.

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