Stories tagged with: hurricane katrina

• New Orleans churches struggle to resume worship & ministry

  by Sherri Brown, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Back in church Becky Boykin and Renee Page greet each other at First Baptist Church in New Orleans during the first worship service since Hurricane Katrina. Photo by Sherri Brown

  NEW ORLEANS (BP)--They sang from a screen fueled by a borrowed generator. They hugged friends and waved to others across the sanctuary. And they asked the all-important post-hurricane question: “How did you do?”

        It was the first time that First Baptist Church -- significantly smaller in number but no less enthusiastic –- met for worship since Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans.

  Flooded flag Lakeview Baptist Church's Christian flag never turned over during the New Orleans floods, but it bears the marks of the waters. The New Orleans congregation lost everything to water and mold damage. Photo by Sherri Brown

        The church is built up enough so that the floodwaters stopped at its doorstep. But the church didn’t escape damage. Winds ripped away about a third of one building. Rain poured into Sunday School classrooms. Offices and church records were destroyed. Parts of the buildings that escaped damage soon showed signs of growing black mold. Weeks after the storm, there is still no electricity.

        “Everything around us stood in four to six feet of floodwater for weeks. The grass is dead, the trees are dying,” said David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist.

  But when the first worship service since Katrina was held Oct. 9, Crosby offered a prayer of thanks to “the God of storm and wind and rain.” First Baptist New Orleans will recover, but many other churches in the area may not. Read More

• Hondurans give $18,000 to Hispanic church hit by Katrina

  by Erin Curry, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

  METAIRIE, La. (BP)--Seven years ago, members of Good Shepherd Hispanic Baptist Church in Metairie, La., had compassion on fellow believers in Honduras hit hard by Hurricane Mitch. And now the favor is being returned many times over as Good Shepherd recovers from Hurricane Katrina.

  Read More

• Church went door-to-door to meet needs after Katrina

  by Staff, posted Friday, October 21, 2005 (18 years ago)

  MOBILE, Ala. (BP)--As thousands of volunteers descended upon the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina’s destructive winds and storm surge leveled entire communities, members of Dayspring Baptist Church in Mobile, Ala., decided the best way to help people start to recover was to walk house-to-house and knock on any doors that remained intact. Read More

• Volunteers sought for cleanup at New Orleans Seminary

  by Staff, posted Thursday, October 20, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Next steps New Orleans Seminary President Chuck Kelley consoles two students during the Oct. 5-8 move-out of the flood-damaged campus. Now a volunteer effort is being launched to restore the seminary’s on-campus housing. Photo by Sherri Brown

  NEW ORLEANS (BP)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary will launch a major volunteer cleanup initiative Oct. 31, giving Southern Baptists an opportunity to assist with the restoration and renewal of on-campus housing at NOBTS.

        Bob and Linda Jackson, new directors of the seminary’s MissionLab program, will coordinate the initiative which will involve scheduling 50 volunteers per week from Oct. 31 until the job is finished.

  “God has put before us a task too big for us, but not too big for Him,” Bob Jackson said. “Southern Baptists have an opportunity to come bring the message of love to the city of New Orleans.” Read More

• New Orleans-area pastor sees revival amid the devastation

  by Ken Walker, posted Monday, October 17, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Church’s post-Katrina look After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans-area First Baptist Church in Luling took on the look of a warehouse, with the influx of much-needed disaster relief supplies.

  LULING, La. (BP)--Amidst the heartbreak and destruction left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a New Orleans-area pastor also sees revival.

        Todd Hallman, pastor of First Baptist Church of Luling, said his people have been revitalized by distributing 20 tractor-trailer loads of supplies and establishing three distribution centers in the New Orleans area.

  “There’s excitement in the church,” said Luling, senior pastor since June 2003. “The church has been transformed into a hospital where people’s needs are met. It has changed our mode of missions. Read More

• Volunteer’s query to Muslim family yields positive response

  by Tammi Ledbetter, posted Thursday, October 13, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Charmaine Fenstermacher

  KENNER, La. (BP)--Charmaine Fenstermacher had just three Gospel tracts left to share with families lined up to receive food from Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers in Kenner, La.

        “As a car pulled up, we’d say, ‘Hi, how are you? Do you want some lunch?’” Fenstermacher, of Southlake, Texas, recounted. When asked, “How are you doing?” some of the displaced Louisianans told how Hurricane Katrina had left them destitute and hungry. Read More

• Volunteers’ lives transformed as God uses them in disaster relief

  by Stephanie Heading & Tammi Ledbetter, posted Thursday, October 13, 2005 (18 years ago)

  GRAPEVINE, Texas (BP)--When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, destroying towns, homes and possessions, victims’ lives were changed in an instant. However, as evacuation sites opened to bring aid and comfort in the devastated region, many volunteers got their first taste of disaster relief work and found that Hurricane Katrina changed their lives as well. Read More

• Luter among N.O. leaders who met with Bush to discuss future

  by Erin Curry, posted Wednesday, October 12, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Dinner with the president Fred Luter (right), pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, dined with President Bush, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen Oct. 10 in the French Quarter as a 17-member commission discussed plans for rebuilding the city. Luter said he was “thoroughly impressed” with the president’s sincerity. Photo courtesy of the White House

  NEW ORLEANS (BP)--Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was one of 17 business and civic leaders chosen by Mayor Ray Nagin for the Bring New Orleans Back Commission charged with the assignment of developing a master plan for rebuilding the flood-ravaged city.

        The group dined with President Bush and his wife, Laura, at the Italian-Creole restaurant Bacco in the French Quarter Oct. 10 and had the opportunity to express their concerns and ideas with the nation’s leader.

  Luter told Baptist Press he has known Nagin for years and the mayor has visited his 7,000-member Southern Baptist church several times. Luter believes he was chosen for the commission because of the number of people he represents and because he is a lifelong New Orleans resident.

  “Everybody knows I love New Orleans,” he said Oct. 12. Read More

• Disaster relief rejuvenating 50-year-old Louisiana church

  by Sherri Brown, posted Wednesday, October 12, 2005 (18 years ago)

  Friendly welcome Jim Caldwell, pastor of the New Orleans-area Riverside Baptist Church in River Ridge, visits with a woman who came to the church for a meal. Church members and other volunteers feed about 1,500 people a day. Photo by Sherri Brown

  RIVER RIDGE, La. (BP)--Churches at the forefront of disaster relief are easy to spot. They’re the ones with eight-foot-high stacks of bottled water dotting the parking lot and half-gallon jugs of waterless hand sanitizer on every table.

        That’s exactly what Riverside Baptist Church looks like. The River Ridge church, just outside of New Orleans, has been feeding 1,500 to 2000 people every day for the past three weeks. Volunteers plan to continue feeding until November.

  “We’ve got a crazy, eclectic group of people working here,” said Jim Caldwell, pastor of the church.

  When Caldwell returned to the city and found the church’s facilities in fairly good shape, he envisioned the location as a food and water distribution center. He called the Louisiana Baptist Convention but help wasn’t immediately available in the post-hurricane days.

  Read More

• Bush pledges federal government will support, not dictate Gulf rebuilding efforts

  by Staff, posted Tuesday, October 11, 2005 (18 years ago)

  COVINGTON, La. (BP)--With a tool belt around his waist and a hard hat close by, President Bush said Oct. 11 that the federal government will not dictate terms for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina but will support the key decisions made by local leaders. Read More