PAN class=060182217-29102007 style=”FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman”>Abusy street in Honolulu displayed signs in five different languages that we could see from the corner where we stood. Between the tourists and the natives we could hear more languages than those five being spoken as we walked the length of two blocks. Tammi commented that this was what all America would look like in a few years. I allowed she was probably right but wasn’t sure how I felt about it. That was 15 years ago. Tammi was right and Americans are still conflicted about what that cultural diversity really means.

Some look at our increasingly diverse population and cry joyfully that it looks like Heaven will look, with people from every tribe and nation. Others see the culture clash and wonder how those who worship the God of Israel can harmonize with those who worship the baals. And that is the American puzzle for our time.

It was easy “in the beginning.” Everything God had made was in a kind of egalitarian mass the Bible calls formless and empty. Then he started to define things: light and dark, the heavens and the earth, dry ground and water, plants and animals?each after their own kind, and finally two people who were themselves easy to tell apart.

All this was before the Fall, and good. After the expulsion from Eden, God scattered people all over the Earth?each after their own culture and language?guaranteeing both astounding diversity and confounding cultural divisions.

The specifying, dividing, the distinguishing between things didn’t stop there, though. Moses offered his specific nation the choice between life and death, blessing and cursing. Elijah said “How long will you waver between two opinions?” Jesus described the narrow and wide gates, emphasizing that anyone who was not for him was against him. Clearly, the work of God has been to keep sharp the difference between “this” and “that.”

And we’ve always resisted this defining work of God. Eve wanted to be the same as God. Israel, at various times, wanted to be like other nations (with a king, with multiple gods, relying on military alliances, etc.). The Romans promiscuously added gods to their own pantheon as they absorbed cultures and sought to overwhelm the distinctions by appointing one highest of gods, the emperor, for all people of all the conquered world.

How is it then that modern men claim diversity as their own secular holy word? To hear us talk, you’d think traditionalists, the fundamentalists of all religions, and the unenlightened are just aching to take us all back to that freshly created lump of everything. That perspective is backwards. The pull toward calling all things the same is not traditional, fundamental to Judeo-Christian religion, or enlightened, even though it’s as old as Lucifer’s rebellion.

The nature worshippers of our era downplay the differences between living things. Dolphins may be smarter than people, apes are very close. Who are we, they say, to build cities where owls and minnows live? Don’t they have as much right to life as people? Perhaps Princeton ethicist Peter Singer is their prophet. Professor Singer claims that there is not an inherent difference in worth between an ape and a human child. He might, he says, choose a normally functioning dog over a mentally handicapped child. I’m pretty sure he wants to be on the board of arbiters who make such decisions, though. Maybe all things are not exactly the same in this viewpoint, but the differences are mere morphology, not value.

We look at what makes mankind distinct and seem to long for the old formlessness, or at least purposelessness. In modern academic circles, few ideas are as scorned as the notion of purpose or intent in history and biology. The things that exist do scream out those traits but we won’t listen for fear of acknowledging a purposeful intender.

Secular schools despise those who doubt the random, mechanistic nature of existence and some nominally Baptist schools follow suit by exiling scholars who see intelligent design in creation. In both realms the academy desperately maintains that all things are equally without meaning.

So it also is in modern man’s system of morality. Today’s ethical debate seems to be between relativists, who acknowledge the concepts of right and wrong but claim that anyone can define them for himself, and postmoderns who doubt that the difference between right and wrong is even discoverable. While the two sides have a real philosophical debate, their moral behavior is not so distinct. They embrace or resign themselves to a world of the not quite righteous and hope that judgment in Heaven will be passé, as it is on Earth.

If creation is all the same and morality an outdated concept, what do we say about religion? The whole discussion is religious, of course. What we say about our origins, our nature and our behavior certainly implies a religious system. And yet, some religions say the forbidden thing by claiming a distinctive trait. Those voices must be silenced if the myth of sameness is to prevail.
Thus, when conservative provocateur Ann Coulter stated that the world would be a better place if all people converted to Christianity, the priests of blandness flew around the chicken coup squawking in terror. Her comments were anti-Semitic, they were exclusivist, they were intolerant. Who is she to state an opinion about religion anyway?

Southern Seminary’s Albert Mohler has better theological credentials and is consistently more thoughtful in his statements than Miss Coulter. When he, speaking on Larry King Live, referred to the Roman Catholic Church as teaching “false doctrine” recently, his training and temperate expression got him no slack from the religious or anti-religious.

In context, Dr. Mohler was responding to the Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith statement that a church which has a claim to apostolic authority (the Catholic and Orthodox churches) is the only true church. It’s an open secret, though surprising to some highly trained observers, that Al Mohler is a Baptist because he doesn’t believe the Catholic Church to be in the New Testament pattern for church. I suppose the cardinals who drafted this document are Catholic, and not Baptist, for similarly convictional reasons.

So when SBC President Frank Page recounted sharing the gospel with presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani the same people hopped around the room decrying the arrogance of supposing that a Roman Catholic, any Roman Catholic, would need to accept Jesus as Savior. One Protestant Sadducee compared Dr. Page’s shameful behavior with the anti-Catholic panic that arose before John Kennedy was elected president of the U.S. After all, aren’t we all the same?
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Nov. 12-13 are the dates for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. We are completing nine years of service to our Lord and the churches. Occasionally, we have people ask questions about the SBTC. Let me respond to three of the most common.

Why does the SBTC exist? We need to review some recent church history. In the 1800s liberalism arose in the churches of Europe. The empty cathedrals witness the sterility of liberalism. Liberalism and neo-orthodoxy infiltrated the northern denominations at the turn of the 20th century. Consequently, the mainline denominations became the sideline denominations. Only a few incidences of liberalism arose among Southern Baptists prior to World War II.

In the 1960s, however, liberalism and neo-orthodoxy began to surface in Southern Baptist life. The SBC messengers approved a resolution in 1971 that essentially called for abortion on demand. There were seminary presidents and professors who wrote openly denying the miraculous events of the Scriptures. By 1979, the SBC had started down a slippery slope.

That year the Conservative Resurgence began and continued until 1994. During those 15 years the common Baptists went to the annual meetings in unprecedented numbers. They elected presidents who shared their convictions about the Word of God.

The presidents used their appointive powers that ultimately impacted the boards of our agencies. Now, all seminary presidents and professors affirm a high view of Scripture. Both North American and international missionaries affirm the SBC faith statement. It is important that those who represent us believe as we do on the major doctrines of the faith.

In light of the SBC resurgence each state convention had decisions to make. What would be their relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention and their stance on the nature of Scripture?

I am happy to say that almost all state conventions affirm a high view of Scripture and support the SBC. Unfortunately, two did not make those choices.

Consequently, in Virginia loyal, conservative Southern Baptists felt they needed to start a new convention. God has blessed their efforts and today they are a strong contributing ministry in SBC life.

Beginning in 1991 some Southern Baptists in Texas saw their own state convention drifting from the SBC. Unsuccessfully, they attempted to get public clarification on some important doctrinal positions. Every year messengers sought to make changes, but would lose by ever-increasing margins. By 1998 it was evident that a new state convention would be necessary.

There are two major reasons for the existence of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The churches wanted a confessional fellowship for missions and ministry. They also wanted a close working relationship with the SBC. These two values have been constant through the nine years of our existence.

What is the difference between the SBTC and other state conventions? There are some distinctive positions held by the SBTC. We have the word “inerrancy” in our constitution. The Executive Board has affirmed inerrancy and defined a high view of Scripture.

The definition states that all the miracles happened as they are recorded, all the narratives are historical and true, and that the authors of the books are the authors to whom they are ascribed. Because we are a confessional fellowship, affiliating churches affirm their agreement with the faith statement of the convention, which is the Baptist Faith and Message (2000). Churches need not adopt the BF&M as their statement of faith but simply agree that the BF&M 2000 is the acceptable document for common ministry as the SBTC.

Flowing from a high view of Scripture are more clearly defined positions on social issues. The SBTC is on record by resolution almost annually honoring the sanctity of human life. A provision in the constitution prohibits continued affiliation for any church that would affirm homosexuality as an acceptable practice.

Women are recognized for their valuable contributions to the kingdom but males are recognized as the scripturally acceptable candidates for the role of senior pastor. The SBTC does not partner with groups such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because they will not take clearly biblical positions on these crucial issues.

Also, we are different structurally. A recent survey showed the SBTC has the smallest staff-to-church ratio of any state convention in the SBC. This enables the cash flow to go where people want their money.

Forty percent of our in-state budget is allocated for missions and evangelism. Church planting is the largest line item, receiving almost $2 million annually. We use a series of checks and balances to get the mission dollars to legitimate new churches. It takes all of us to get the job done. No one church can enable a statewide mission strategy. This is a major reason for the existence of any state convention.

The SBTC services over 100 different local church ministries. By using generalists instead of specialists on our staff, we are able to do more with less in Texas. Whatever a church or association has need of we will network to find the resources. We relate to institutions and ministries but it is on a theological basis and in a contributor role.

Where do we go from here? We have grown from 120 congregations to almost 2,000. The churches gave over $31 million to missions and ministry during the past year. Our end game is to give 55 percent of the operating budget to SBC ministry. We are currently at 54 percent. We should reach the goal by 2009. No other state convention gives away more than it retains in operating budget funds.

We believe that churches all across Texas will join in the effort of “Reaching Texas and Touching the World.” Our core values reinforce our past but guide in the future. We are biblically faithful, kingdom-focused, and missionally funded. Our desire is to be a good partner to Southern Baptist churches and associations in Texas.

Pray for God to move upon us at the Arlington Convention Center Nov. 12-13 as the churches of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention meet.

DALLAS?You know those 16,000 hours a child will spend in a government-run school from kindergarten through 12th grade? If you’re a church leader or a parent, Ed Gamble has a simple request for you.

“I want the 16,000 hours back.”

Gamble, executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (SBACS), was in Dallas Oct. 15 for a “Christian School 101” workshop for laymen and church leaders interested in starting Christian schools aimed at training coming generations in Christian discipleship and a full-orbed biblical worldview.

Gamble was talking between bites at lunch in a Sunday School classroom at First Baptist Church of Dallas, explaining his history of helping launch and administer First Baptist Academy, a school begun in his hometown of Orlando, Fla., through First Baptist Church under now-retired pastor Jim Henry.

Gamble is quick to emphasize that his organization is not focused on denigrating public schools or calling for their boycott by Baptist parents. Nonetheless, a recent headline in a North Carolina newspaper proclaimed after a reporter attended a Christian School 101 workshop: “Baptists turning away from public schools.”

“We’re not trying to fan flames. We’re building lifeboats,” Gamble countered.

The goal of SBACS, he said, is promoting a model of Christian education centered on what Gamble calls a three-legged stool of “uniting home, church and school in Jesus Christ.”
“We need a different paradigm,” Gamble said, because the existing one isn’t helping Christian parents make disciples.

Baptism rates among teenagers in Baptist churches are less than half of what they were 35 years ago and the rate of formerly church-going kids who don’t connect with a church upon leaving home is more than 80 percent.

Gamble said K-12 Christian education can be to the 21st century what the Sunday School movement was to the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries.

“To turn the tide for the next generations, it must begin in the homes and the churches,” Gamble said.

TRONG>EDUCATION FOR ETERNITY
Christian School 101 is a two-day workshop facilitated by SBACS to teach pastors and laymen how to start a school. S.L. Sherrill, superintendent of a Christian school in Raleigh, N.C., told those attending the meeting the essence of Christian education is “explaining the process of life to the next generation ? and that Christ is preeminent in all things.”

“In Christian education,” Sherrill said, “we are educating for eternity.”

In his presentation on the philosophy of a Christian education, Sherrill said a kingdom education is a “lifelong, Bible-based, Christ-centered process of leading a child to Christ, building a child up in Christ, and equipping a child to serve Christ.”

Such a model, Sherrill explained, involves the home, church and school in the spiritual growth of the student by integrating a biblical worldview into every academic sphere.

“The Christian school makes an honest, concentrated effort to bring every class, activity, and administrative procedure under the control of biblical principles,” the SBACS definition states.
The school where Sherrill serves, North Raleigh Christian Academy, graduated 96 students who collectively earned more than $1.6 million in college scholarships last spring, he said.

Sherrill was the founding headmaster at North Raleigh, which started on only a few months notice and with no students or staff?only a dream of a group of Christian laymen and several churches combining their resources.

Unsuccessful at holding the group off a year before starting classes, Sherrill dove into his duties with the goal of attracting 150 students in only a few weeks before the first semester began.

After the inaugural meeting of interested parents, Sherrill said 279 students were enrolled and by the time classes started, the school had 401 students.

“You just don’t know what God can do,” Sherrill said. “He is able and he is willing.”
Today the school has more than 1,300 students.

“We had no idea what God was going to do. And we had no idea what the perceived need was.”

Sherrill admitted that some church-based schools are little more than a school with a weekly chapel thrown in, but the goal should be to integrate a biblical worldview into every subject and activity, he said.

“If your staff is well-trained in biblical integration, your school will be successful,” Sherrill said. “If teachers do that well, the kids begin to see the practicality of that?they begin to see God in science, in English, in math, in every sphere.”

Denny Gorena, pastor of First Baptist Church of Leonard, said he attended the workshop as part of preparing his church for a school it will begin in the fall of 2008. The church averages about 200 people on Sundays and will pre-enroll students beginning in January.

“It was something God laid on my heart and something I think we need to do,” Gorena said.
Since the first Christian School 101 workshop in January 2006, more than 15 schools have started in Southern Baptist churches that Gamble knows of.

Gamble said if pastors are expecting that church attendance?and perhaps discipleship at home if the parents are themselves mature believers?is enough to sustain a vibrant Christianity amid a post-Christian culture, they are naive.

More than 90 percent of Christian students attend public schools, he said, “and on any given Sunday, half those kids don’t even show up (at church). Ask any youth pastor,” Gamble stated.

As for costs, Gamble said the issue isn’t money; there’s enough of that. Instead, he said, “it’s a faith issue.”

If Christian education were a priority for churches interested in making disciples of the next generation, they would fund it just like everything else?though tithes and offerings?and charge tuition based on a family’s ability to pay.

This approach, Gamble said, would make it feasible for the children o

At a Wyoming truck stop 1,600 miles from his family or any support system, Louisiana truck driver Charles Worcester had to be rushed to a local hospital, and within hours underwent surgery for colon cancer, beginning a three-month, long-distance ordeal for Worcester and his wife, Charlene.

When Worcester nearly died because of complications, he was relocated to Salt Lake City. This lengthy crisis could have been very lonely for Worcester, and very worrisome for Charlene. But Christians in Wyoming and Utah were called to aid the Worcesters with practical physical and spiritual support, thanks to the networking of Bob Hataway’s TransAlive ministry.

Hataway is a chaplain for the North American Mission Board, and a member of First Baptist Church in Fort Worth with a lifelong passion for the trucking industry. Since he started TransAlive in 1984, he has been the hub for ministry to about 200 distressed truckers per year.

His call to this ministry began one day in 1975 when he stopped at the scene of a traffic accident on Interstate 35 in Hillsboro. He went to the hospital to check on the Indianapolis truck driver injured in that accident. Hataway and his wife, Carol, ministered to the driver and his wife for more than eight weeks, helping them cope with the trauma and manage the life change they would undergo because of the accident.

Hataway began to be burdened by the plight of truckers, who, by the nature of their work, are isolated from their support system. Who comes to their aid if they become seriously ill or injured while in transit? Who cares for a family in the tragic event of the driver’s death while away from home?

“I was moved by what had been done for that [Indianapolis] truck driver,” Hataway said. “Many people became involved with that man. I began to visualize the needs of drivers like him who needed help across the country. I was not some superhero for that driver, but I knew that people have an innate desire to help their fellow man. In many cases the only reason people do not help is that they are not aware of the problem in the first place. Setting up a plan to notify the right people became my goal in the industry.”

Through the partnerships he has made with many major trucking companies, Bob is one of the first individuals notified when a trucker has passed away, or experiences serious illness or injury while on a run. Services provided to drivers and their families through TransAlive are free to the drivers.
Hataway said, “We need only to hear that a driver and/or family members are in distress anywhere in the continental United States and we move quickly to remove the uncertainty and replace it with warm, caring friends willing to assist whatever the task.”

The 43,000 Southern Baptist Churches nationwide are his first resource to find the “warm, caring friends” to whom Hataway refers. Using the SBC Church Search on www.SBC.net, Hataway immediately seeks out a Southern Baptist minister to be “God’s representative” to that trucker or his family.

But his ministry isn’t merely networking with churches to meet truckers’ needs in their communities. In addition to writing articles on trucking safety for various websites, the Hataways often hit the roads themselves. Driving TransAlive’s AmCoach, a bus equipped with a special adjustable bed, couches, bathroom facilities and a kitchenette, they drive across the states to carry recovering truck drivers back to their homes.

“The AmCoach provides an alternative to air charter for drivers who cannot travel in a sitting up position. Neither commercial flights nor standard buses will allow the driver to lay down in all cases during transit,” Hataway said.

Charles Worcester was one of about 20 drivers each year that Hataway tranports because the costs of chartering special transportation were unaffordable. The Hataways drove from Texas through a snow storm in Utah to carry Charles back home to Louisiana in the AmCoach.

Charlene Worcester recounted: “Charles had not been with the company long enough to be covered by insurance, and the VA hospital did not have a resource for transporting him home.The ride home could not have been more comfortable for Charles. I cannot say too much about the AmCoach or the Hataways in what they did in helping us get home.They were truly a Godsend for us.”

The time the Hataways spend with the drivers on the AmCoach gives them an opportunity to meet needs and share Christ. Hataway said,

“On the coach itself, three have come to Christ,” Hataway said. “We have shared with many on the coach who have said that it was the first time they’ve seen Christianity with a new understanding?they become less critical. We share Christ with a cup of cold water in their time of thirst.”

Hataway explained the dilemma of the group of truckers to whom he most often ministers: the owner/operators.

He said: “They own their own truck and lease to a company for the purposes of moving their freight. That affects the driver benefits. For example, right now we are dealing with a case of an owner/operator driver who passed away in Seattle, Washington, and the company that contracted him won’t do anything to transport the body back to his home.

“There are insurances available to owner/operators that are a supplement, like workers’ comp for employees, but it doesn’t cover everything as it should. And many cannot afford adequate coverage?they live paycheck to paycheck.”

J.B. Hunt Trucking Company has called on Bob since 1987 and is one of several trucking companies supporting TransAlive financially. One of the largest companies in the industry, Hunt employs about 16,000 drivers, many of whom are owner/operators.

Mark Whitehead, Hunt’s vice president of claims and litigation management, said that after making certain a sick or injured driver receives proper medical attention, the next call they make is to Hataway. To his knowledge, TransAlive is a one-of-a-kind ministry.

Whitehead explained: “What we use Bob for more than anything else is to notify families of catastrophic injuries or occasionally the death of a family member. He has a network of pastoral people that can be called on who will make the notification to the family and wait with them until they have the support they need in the initial crisis. We feel it’s better for Bob to do the contact rather than a police officer who will go and then leave.”<

Responding to questions by some on Internet blogs about the leadership of Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson, trustees released a statement at their fall meeting that including the following:

“To date, no audit has indicated any financial mismanagement or impropriety.” With annual, independent audits and diligence to ensure financial integrity, Southern Baptists can be assured contributions are “a wise investment in God’s kingdom work,” spent according to the leadership of the Lord and donor requests

The work of administration, faculty, and staff is evaluated at least annually, including the president in the process. “The president has welcomed these opportunities of evaluation, and he hears and respects the counsel of the trustees.”

“We cannot conceive how anyone can be any more open and honest than is Dr. Patterson! Dr. Patterson understands the trustee process and recognizes that he provides leadership to the seminary under the Lordship of Christ by the authority granted to the trustees by the convention.” Trustees serve the SBC under the Lordship of Christ.

“Our Baptist forbearers were wise to set up the trustee system that Southern Baptists have in place. It works extremely well! The relentless attacks on Dr. Patterson are also a subtle attack on the trustee system of oversight that the convention employs.”

With a trustee system available to provide a means of constructive criticism, “We join with other Southern Baptists in urging that public attacks against Dr. Patterson and other leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention that hurt the spread of the gospel to an unbelieving world cease for the sake of those who are headed to utter destruction.” Scripture encourages speaking the truth while advising that it be done in love and gentleness with a redemptive purpose. “Above all, there is a watching world that needs to see Christ’s love in all of our words and deeds.”

Finding Dr. Patterson to be “a man of exemplary integrity,” trustees said they were thankful for his leadership and commended his work as president. “We also look forward to many years of his continued leadership.”

NEW ORLEANS – Experiencing tremendous loss is a common theme to many New Orleans residents, but for Doris Cousin the string of tragedy started long before the storm ravaged the city. Within a year she lost family members, then her home and hope.

The bleak situation surrounding her intensified her downward emotional spiral into depression.

A foot and a half of water stood in her home for two weeks after the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. Few items escaped the mold that filled her house.

“Everything had to be taken out; it was heartbreaking,” Cousin said.

And then, things started to change.

Cousin applied to have her home rebuilt by Southern Baptist volunteers involved in the SBC’s Operation NOAH Rebuild.

Last April, Don Snipes, a NOAH zone coordinator for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, arrived at Cousins’ FEMA trailer with plans to begin the process of helping her return to her home.

As the zone two area manager for NOAH, Snipes is committed to seeing this section of the city spiritually and visually transformed.

“I’m in a position where I can share and touch people’s lives. I want to make sure they know where they?re going to be for eternity,” Snipes said.

Shortly after Snipes entered Cousin’s home to assess it, he noticed her need for prayer. He listened as she shared her series of losses, and offered to pray for her grief. As her tears flowed he shared the gospel with her.

Returning for the second assessment Snipes shared the gospel, prayed with Cousin and encouraged her to pray through her grief. Through their conversations Snipes discovered she was raised as a Catholic, and she mentioned that the prayers were helping her.

“God began to break down barriers,” Snipes said.

About two weeks after Snipes witnessed to Cousin, a team of Canadian volunteers finished the gutting in her home. Cousin soon became friends with one woman from the team.

“She told me to go directly to Jesus,” Cousin said. The woman walked her through the process of receiving Christ, and “I prayed that prayer and began to see things differently,” she said.

“I noticed the change that took place in Doris,” Snipes said.

“In trusting in God we learn to forgive and learn to let go. I’m trusting in God,” Cousin said.

Soon, her family would follow her lead as she shared with them the hope she received. Her daughter and granddaughter both made professions of faith. The home that once held grief and despair is now a beacon of hope to the community.

“I felt like I had been given so much by the Lord, I wanted to give back,” Cousin said. So she did. As a grandparent of children and youth in the neighborhood she wanted to reach out to the young generation. “[There is] so much out there that they could get into,” Cousin said.

Snipes initiated a meeting between himself, Cousin, and David Rhymes, to discuss how the local Baptist association, NOAH volunteers and Cousin could work together to reach her neighborhood. Rhymes is a North American Mission Board missionary serving as the evangelism strategist for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans (BAGNO).

Rhymes tapped into the network of volunteers to find a team who could help start the evangelism work at her home. A team already scheduled to arrive June 18-22 “jumped at the opportunity to help,” Rhymes said.

The team prayer-walked the neighborhood, making contacts with 15 individuals and families, and provided a free lunch of hot dogs and burgers for about 50 neighbors.

“The events allowed us to begin building relationships in the neighborhood and connect Doris’ home to the evangelical work in her community,” Rhymes said.

The week ended with a two-day backyard Bible club at Doris’ property. A tent was set up, games were played and Bible stories were taught to the 12 children who attended.

“God clearly has a plan for Doris and her home. We look forward to moving forward with a Bible study at her residence once repairs to her home are complete,” Rhymes said.

Not far from her home is the property where Elysian Fields Baptist Church once stood. The building was bulldozed after receiving substantial damage from the storm. The church is merging with Gentilly Baptist Church.

Ken Taylor, pastor of the two merging congregations, said, “It is a positive experience seeing two congregations come together; seeing new people at our church.” As residents gradually come back to their homes, BAGNO research indicates 40-50 percent of the residents in the Elysian Fields neighborhood have returned.

“Within 10 blocks of Doris’ home 10-15 homes are being worked on in some way,” Snipes said.

“We wanted to make sure ministry continued on that property,” Taylor said.

Research and the recent profession of faith indicate a potential for church planting initiatives to take place in the neighborhood.

“There is a potential for the work there to be established before the community is back,” Rhymes said.

“[People in the neighborhood] have seen the work and the impact it’s had in the area; ?they are very open and friendly – a lot of this neighborhood has been touched,” Snipes said.

Nine people are reported to have made professions of faith in zone two, thanks to additional NOAH evangelism efforts in the area.

Cousin’s home is nearing completion. As volunteers are placing the finishing touches on her home, “I have brighter days now,” she said. “Thank you, NOAH, and to everyone who came through NOAH. You will always have a special place in my heart,” Cousin said.

Snipes added: “We need everybody to realize that here we are, two years have passed and there are still 140,000-150,000 homes still unoccupied. There is still a need for evangelism in the area.” Ms. Cousin’s story can be replicated all across New Orleans. “What is needed are soldiers of the cross volunteering their time and talents to touch the lives of people in the name of Jesus,” said John L. Yeats, communications director at the Louisiana Baptist Convention.

To volunteer with Operation NOAH Rebuild, call 504-362-4604. To learn more about evangelism efforts in New Orleans, contact Keith Manuel, LBC evangelism associate at Keith.Manuel@LBC.org or call 318-448-3402.