Oct. 10, 2008 | By Michael McCormack

HOUMA, La. - Hurricane Ike made landfall in the early morning hours Sept. 13 at Galveston, Texas. Ike, whose tropical storm force winds extended some 550 miles from its center, was one of the largest Atlantic storms on record.

Ike scattered destruction across much of the Gulf of Mexico coast. And though Louisiana was spared a direct hit, the massive storm pushed a surge of water all across Coastal Louisiana, much of which was still drying out from Hurricane Gustav.

In Houma and the rest of lower Terrebonne Parish, Ike's water combined with Gustav's wind for a devastating one-two punch. Houma's Christ Baptist Church, led by Pastor Garland Reed, suffered extensive roof damage as a result of Ike. It's one of 19 churches - out of a total of 33 in the area - left with extensive damage.

Yet Reed is fast to point out that he and his church are concerned with more than just their own recovery. Blessed by others, the church is passing on that blessing by intentionally deploying Baptist volunteers to the surrounding community.

"We've been a distribution point for all the missions," Reed said. "There're some churches that don't have a voice. Down in the Bayou Dularge and Dulac areas, I have pastor friends that are just devastated. And they're appreciative of whatever we can give the church."

Ike made landfall in Texas, but its the impact on Lower Terrebonne was devastating nonetheless. According to Terrebonne Parish officials, Ike flooded between 2,500 and 2,700 homes in the area. By comparison, Hurricane Gustav, which was a near direct hit for the Houma area, flooded some 235 homes. For Lower Terrebonne residents, two storms in two weeks left behind many needs - both physical and emotional.

"The list is long and large and the help is needed now, not later," Reed said. "There're folks in need who really need help and the Lord, especially in the bayou region."

And early on, help has been coming. Reed has identified two characteristics common to most recovery support: 1) Support has come largely from individuals and not organizations, and 2) most volunteers have a Katrina connection.

"As far as outreach, it's been a tremendous response," Reed said. "And it's been from the individuals that are stepping up and saying, ‘We're going to help some folks out.' It's been people who, just a few years ago, went through what we're going through right now."

‘Rebuild mode again'

Some of those sympathetic volunteers have been from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. NOBTS Professor Walter Brown was part of a group deployed from Christ Baptist Church that spent a day in Pointe Aux Chenes, a small bayou community near Houma. Whether it was gutting out Live Oak Baptist Church or removing the contents of a house, every member of the team had done similar work - or received a similar blessing from volunteers - after Katrina.

"It's hard for me not to think about people who came and helped work on our house under similar circumstances," Brown said. "I want to do it [volunteer in Houma], but at the same time too, I'd feel small and cheap if I didn't do it after all that people have done for us."

For Reed, the situation is much the same. He and his family were in the process of moving to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary from Welsh, La., when Katrina and Rita hit in 2005. He lost his home in Rita. Reed then lived, worked and studied at NOBTS during the school's major rebuilding time.

"It seems like, just a few years later, here we are back to rebuilding in my life," Reed said. "My wife and I have lived in Louisiana for our entire lives. I lost my home in Rita. We basically experienced the entire rebuild of the seminary.

"Then we moved to Houma and we experienced the same thing. We're in rebuild mode again."

As an aside, Reed talked about a sound system he'd loaned to Edgewater Baptist Church, a New Orleans area church that only just recently moved back into its sanctuary.

While Reed and his family lived in New Orleans, they attended Edgewater Baptist Church. He loaned the church his personal sound system to use in worship services until the sanctuary renovations were finished. Reed said he never dreamed that, just when Edgewater was finished with the sound system, he would need it to use in his own church in Houma.

It's all part of the been-there-before situation in which many people in Coastal Louisiana find themselves post-Gustav and Ike.

"They will remember this," Reed said.

Ministry Post-Gustav and Ike

The first time Reed preached at Christ Baptist Church there were only 13 people in worship. That was about two-and-a-half years ago. Then, in July 2007 when the church voted to call Reed as their pastor, there were 35 to 40 in attendance. Reed said that, the Sunday before Gustav, there were about 160 people in the service.

Reed said it's a testimony of the transforming power of the gospel.

"These are the toughest of the tough, the roughest of the rough, that are coming to know Jesus," Reed said. "And once they come to know the Lord, they are not at all ashamed of sharing their faith. They are so grateful that [Jesus] saved them from the lifestyle they were in. It's been awesome."

New members of Christ Baptist Church range from young adults to 70-year-olds - many of whom had never owned a Bible before.

"We had a three-and-a-half hour business meeting one time, and at the end of it, someone gave their life to Jesus," Reed said with a smile. "It's finally sunk in to me that all we're called to do is to be obedient."

Whether it's providing recovery help, distributing food through Angel Food Ministries or just reaching newcomers in the community, Christ Baptist Church and other area churches are having a huge impact on the Lower Terrebonne region. For Reed, it's a mission field.

"It's as big of a mission field as anywhere in the world," he said.

The recovery of Coastal Louisiana from Gustav and Ike will be months or years in the making. But Reed was clear that now is a crucial time for Christians to help the community get back on its feet. For more information on volunteering through Christ Baptist Church, contact Garland Reed at pastor@christbaptisthouma.com or 337.853.0834.

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