Jan. 22, 2010 | By Paul F. South
NEW ORLEANS - With memories of Hurricane Katrina's 2005 devastation still fresh in the minds of many, the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary family rallied to help victims of the cataclysmic earthquake in Haiti.
A special offering was collected during the school's Jan. 21 chapel service. Students, faculty, family and friends of the seminary filled baskets at the front of Leavell Chapel. The seminary family gave $4,091.22 during the chapel service.
NOBTS President Chuck Kelley said the collection was only the second time in his presidency that such an offering had been taken. The seminary, in partnership with the Florida Baptist Convention, has established a certificate program on the island nation, in the capital Port-au-Prince and in Port-de-Paix, to train individuals for ministry. Some 159 pastors who serve the island, many of them in house churches, have earned certificates through NOBTS.
Initial reports from Haiti indicate that all the NOBTS students in Haiti are safe, Kelley said. However, they now face the massive challenge of shattered families, congregations and communities. While the exact death toll on the island is unknown, estimates are as high as 200,000.
While the Katrina event was indescribable, there are differences between the 2005 hurricane and the Haitian earthquake, Kelley said.
In New Orleans, some 90 percent of the city was evacuated before the storm struck, Kelley said. For Haiti, there was no warning.
"Imagine a city with 2 million people, with no moment of preparation, already with difficult challenges of infrastructure and so forth," Kelley said. "To face what they've faced is too difficult to conceive."
He added, "I know I've never been able to describe to anybody what Katrina was like. So I know we can't really understand how difficult and how bad it is in Haiti.
Right now, Kelley said, food is the critical need. The Florida Baptist Convention has reached agreement with a supplier, and as a result, a $20 gift, will purchase 100 pounds of rice, a staple of the Haitian diet, and feed a family of four for some time. Thanks to the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program, the distribution network has been established. Every penny donated will go to feed the Haitian people.
"It doesn't really matter how much you give in terms of your expression of compassion for the people of Haiti," Kelley said. "We all do within the means that we have and what God lays on our heart. "But I hope and pray that each one of us will do something, something to acknowledge the fact that people are suffering in incomprehensible ways, and we want to reach out and be a part of helping them."
In a prayer to bless the offering, student Jason Reed pleaded with God to provide for and bless the Haitian people.
"Of the gifts that we give this morning, we pray that You will multiply and bless them," Reed prayed. "I pray that they would be used to serve many people, and that somehow through this tragedy, the glory of Your Name would be made known."
Donations through the seminary for Haitian relief can be sent to:
Haitian Relief
Office for Institutional Advancement
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
3939 Gentilly Boulevard
New Orleans, LA 70126
The Office of Institutional Advancement will receive donations to purchase rice until Jan. 31.
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