Feb. 20, 2007

By Michael McCormack and Gary D. Myers

NEW ORLEANS -- Flexibility is the key to living in post-Katrina New Orleans. And in New Orleans, where the task of recovery is far bigger than any one group, cooperation is crucial.

Sixty volunteers from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Baptist Campus Ministry at Louisiana State University, Arkansas Baptist Builders and the Times-Picayune newspaper displayed both flexibility and cooperation Feb. 17. The groups helped homeowners in New Orleans’ Pontchartrain Park neighborhood recover both from the recent tornado and Hurricane Katrina.

“Our folks really pitched in and helped,” said Ken Taylor, professor of urban missions at NOBTS. “My prayer had been that glory would shine to the Lord in this. I really think that has happened. [The workday] exceeded my expectations”

The Feb. 17 service day had been on the calendar for a month. Arrangements had been made, and announcements had been posted. Originally, volunteers from NOBTS were slated to tackle a few house gutting projects in the Gentilly neighborhood.

But those plans changed when a destructive tornado ripped through New Orleans Feb. 13. In all, about 600 structures in Greater New Orleans were damaged by the tornado. Many of those were in Pontchartrain Park, near where volunteers from the seminary were already planning on working.

Much of the day was spent talking and praying with people in the neighborhood – young and old alike – who were still traumatized by the tornado. Most were just happy to be alive and happy to talk about their experiences.

“We have a lot of folks who are still shaken,” Taylor said. “We met a man, I think he was 86-years-old, we had a chance to pray with him and he was just grateful to talk with someone. He said it was lonesome in the area with the neighbors gone.”

While groups were working in one neighborhood, Taylor met Emile Segue while he was working to clean up and shore up the tornado damage on his home. Taylor pieced together a team of NOBTS and LSU students from other sites to help Segue.

Hurricane restoration work on Segue’s house, just four blocks from NOBTS, was 80 to 90 percent complete when the tornado deposited his neighbor’s roof in the front room of his house.

“I had a chunk of somebody’s house slam into the front, that’s really what took it out,” Segue said, pointing to the mangled front wall of his home.

Just days before the tornado negated his months of hard recovery work, Segue’s father passed away. On top of all of the emotions surrounding the hurricane and the tornado, the loss of this close family members was the most difficult to bear.

“I just buried my father that Monday. My mind was on that,” Segue said. “I’m still grieving over the death of my father. When I came up to this it was just a numb feeling, I didn’t have any reaction.”

Segue was grateful for the unexpected help.

“I pray a lot and I knew God would make a way,” Segue said. “I didn’t expect [the volunteers] today. I know God always makes a way.”

By the end of the day, Segue’s house was cleared of tornado debris and he had begun reframing the front wall. Before leaving, members of the team prayed with Segue. The volunteers were touched by his hope and determination – something evident throughout the neighborhood.

Another group cleared the backyard of Melvin and Mary Patnett, an elderly couple in Pontchartrain Park. The yard had not been clean since Hurricane Katrina and the home had roof damage from the tornado. The group, comprised of NOBTS and LSU students as well as eight Times-Picayune writers and staff members, removed a dilapidated shed, three flood-soaked motorcycles and a number of appliances from the small yard.

Students from the seminary took turns talking with the homeowner. Before leaving they prayed with the Patnetts about the ongoing recovery and health issues they are facing.

The Feb. 17 work day was not Taylor’s first response to the needs in Pontchartrain Park. Instead of giving a planned pop quiz the day of the tornado, Taylor took his urban missions class to pray with storm victims and assess needs in the neighborhood. The class discovered very real and practical needs

“Nearly everyone in the FEMA trailers needs blankets,” Taylor said. “Folks haven’t replaced their [blankets and quilts] since the hurricane, so it really met a need.”

The need was accentuated by the coldest weather of the season. Temperatures dipped near freezing. The storm blew out windows in many of the FEMA trailers, leaving residents with little refuge from the cold air.

Taylor began asking around for blankets and quilts. The Office of Institutional Advancement at NOBTS and the faculty wives organization located more than 40 blankets.

Students from another of Taylor’s classes distributed blankets throughout the neighborhood on Feb 14. A mother and her four children were among the recipients.

During a visit into the neighborhood, Taylor encountered a man asking spiritual questions. The man came to help clean up his parents’ home. Taylor shared the Gospel with him. There in the midst of the destruction, man made a profession of faith.

Taylor and the Arkansas Builders also met and talked with a Muslim man whose house was spared in the tornado. The man rode out the tornado along with eight other while houses on either side were totally destroyed. They shared the Gospel with him and left him a copy of the Gospel of John.

“He was very open to talk about God,” Taylor said. “It was a good opportunity.”

At the end of the day, volunteers had worked at six different sites. Regardless of the project – large or small, planned or unexpected – each gave volunteers the opportunity to share God’s love and hope with struggling homeowners.

“It’s been comforting to them and a blessing to us to hear the testimonies of people who have seen God work in this situation,” Taylor said.

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