Louisiana Baptist Convention 2008

Louisiana Baptist Convention 2008
Meeting in New Orleans Monday and Tuesday

An employee of the Road Home program will move into his own new home in January, years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the home he lived in for many years. Another family announced last week that they will be returning to their refurbished home in Old Metairie by the end of this year. New Orleans has a long way to go before all displaced families fulfill their desire to get back home. In fact, our community faces years of rebuilding in all dimensions including streets, housing, education, businesses, and healthcare.

“Second Wind” is the theme for this week’s meeting of the Louisiana Baptist Convention here in New Orleans. Baptists descended in force upon our city to help with the initial relief efforts. “Yellow caps” were everywhere preparing and serving millions of meals in the devastated areas.
Baptist volunteers, along with many others, plunged into the work of picking up debris, clearing fallen trees, towing ruined cars, and cleaning flooded homes. LBC President David Hankins has challenged Baptist churches across the state to “get their second wind” in the work of recovery and restoration in the New Orleans area. Some 2,000 messengers from 1,600 churches will gather to take care of this and other business.

The local association of Baptist churches, which includes a hundred congregations, has already reorganized its work to address recovery issues in the city for the next decade. Specialists in recovery and rebuilding will join those involved in more traditional efforts such as church planting and homeless ministry. The state convention and national Southern Baptist entities are focused on the health and well-being of New Orleans for the long term. The local association lost 60 congregations due to the devastating flood. The restoration effort will not be limited to restoring congregations but will attempt to create and restore rehabilitation programs, schools, medical services, housing, and general economic development.

The great flood and its aftermath may have been forgotten in some parts of the country. But Louisiana knows the difficulties of New Orleans, and Louisiana churches understand and have made the long term commitment to restoration of our devastated region.