NEW ORLEANS – Leaders of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Leavell College turned the city of New Orleans into a missions and ministry classroom on Nov. 4. For one afternoon, classroom lectures were replaced with hands-on mission involvement.
Faculty, staff and students spent the afternoon serving and ministering to others in conjunction with the seminary’s year-long emphasis on the mission focus core value. Mission teams spread out across the city to serve at Global Maritime Ministries, a ministry to seafarers; Rachel Sims Baptist Mission, an inner city mission center in the Irish Channel neighborhood; and Hope Ministries, a chaplaincy ministry focused on the staff and residents at six area nursing homes.
“We decided as a faculty that the best way to emphasize our core value was to get involved in missions. And that is what we did,” said Thomas Strong III, dean of Leavell College. “Our students and faculty went into the city to convey Christ’s love through missions and ministry.
“I am proud of the group of students and the Leavell College faculty in its entirety who were willing to demonstrate their conviction about the necessity of missions by actually doing missions,” he added.
Few of the tasks were glamorous, but they were all essential for ministries faced with limited resources and very few staff members.
At Global Maritime, volunteers pulled weeds, gathered trash in the yard and removed ruined stucco siding from the building. Some students traveled to the nearby cruise ship terminal to greet a group of seafarers while others sorted and labeled Jesus videos.
Global Maritime hosts thousands of seafarers from around the world each year at its facility near the Port of New Orleans. The center has 15 Internet-connected, video-equipped computers which ship workers can use to communicate with family members back home. Global Maritime stocks Bibles and Jesus video in dozens of languages which are free to visiting seafarers. Staff also ministers to seafarers by providing rides from the port and cruise ship terminal to local stores and by meeting other practical needs.
In 2010 alone Global Maritime staff members have visited more than 300 ships and contacted more than 10,000 seafarers. The center hosted close to 7,000 ship workers this year. Through the staff’s efforts to share the Gospel, the ministry has seen 16 professions of faith in 2010.
Philip Vandercook, director of Global Maritime, said about 8 percent of the operating costs for the ministry is given by the Louisiana Baptist Convention and the New Orleans Baptist Association. The rest of the budget comes through direct gifts from churches and individuals. For information about the center, visit www.portministry.com.
A few miles from Global Maritime at Rachel Sims Mission, students sorted clothing for distribution in the community, compiled food bank records and began the cleaning process for the center, which is slated for closure Dec. 31. The North American Mission Board announced the closure of the 100-year-old ministry Nov. 1.
In Jefferson Parish, a third group of students participated in direct ministry to residents at Walden Health Care, a nursing home in Kenner, La. Working with Hope Ministries chaplain Philip Peavey, the students went room-to-room visiting with and praying for residents. The students also brought gifts bags with personal care items to share with the patients at the facility.
“We got to pray with a lot of the residents,” said Lindsay Masters, a Leavell College student from Baton Rouge. “We found out that more of them don’t have people that come and visit. It makes me want to go back and talk to them again and get to know them even better. It was really a good experience.”
Masters said that she enjoyed serving with her fellow students and looks forward to more ministry opportunities like the mission day. She hopes even more students will take to time to participate in future ministry projects.
In fact, Leavell College officials said the response from students was so positive that they plan do a ministry day each semester. Plans are underway for the next one in February 2011.
The Leavell College faculty members model ministry and mission involvement for their students by serving in leadership roles in local churches and area ministries. The faculty also enjoys a unique relationship with two of the ministries they served Nov. 4 -- Global Maritime and Hope Ministries. Global Maritime director Philip Vandercook is the husband of Sandy Vandercook, assistant professor of English and education at Leavell College. Philip Peavey, Hope Ministries chaplain, is married to Donna Peavey, associate professor of Christian education at Leavell College.
“We were reminded on that day that a multitude of opportunities to get involved in the work of God in New Orleans exists. So many needs exist,” Strong said. “Our prayer is that this day is not an event that happens one time but the beginning of a lifestyle.”
-30-