Rick Warren, SBC leaders speak to displaced pastors

By Jerry Pierce
September 11, 2005
No Comments

BATON ROUGE, La.?Taking his cue from the Old Testament prophet Nehemiah, California pastor Rick Warren told several hundred pastors, pastors’ wives and church staff members displaced by Hurricane Katrina that “rebuilding the city is always harder than building the city. The same is true of lives.”

The hurricane victims, who lost church property, homes and sometimes both, gathered at Florida Boulevard Baptist Church in Baton Rouge Tuesday afternoon and evening to hear Warren, a best-selling author and pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California, SBC President Bobby Welch and other national and state Baptist leaders.

Florida Boulevard, with a membership of 2,000, has become one of the central relief points in a city whose population has swelled by an estimated 250,000 people in the last week as evacuees have crowded shelters, hotels and homes.

Warren told the crowd that there are three stages following disasters: the rescue stage, the resuming stage, and the rebuilding and relocation stage?the longest and most difficult part, he said. “And that my friends, is the duty of the church.”

Warren said in Nehemiah 2:17-18 that Nehemiah cites the devastation of Jerusalem, saying, “Let us rid ourselves of this shame and rebuild.”

“God loves to bring good out of bad,” Warren said. “He loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections. Every obstacle is an opportunity. Every problem has potential. Every crisis is an opportunity for ministry. Every hurt God wants to use for his glory.”

With more than 1 million people displaced, the long-term solution is churches reaching out with maximum effort and giving hope to hopeless people.

Warren, who arrived after visiting Houston, Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss., said, “Every single person I talked to didn’t know where every member of their family was. ? You can go weeks without food. You can go days without water, you can go a few minutes without air. But you can’t go one second without hope. You gotta have hope to cope. And that’s what our job is?to build hope.”

Warren echoed Welch’s earlier comments to the crowd that during a tragedy people’s hearts are often open to the gospel.

“During the next 90 days, people are going to be more open to the gospel than in years,” said Warren, adding that God uses trials to soften hearts. “It is God’s responsibility to make people receptive; it is our responsibility to sow the seed.”

Warren said the answer to questions about God’s purpose in tragedies are unknowable on earth. But the “what question”?what churches should do?is knowable from Jesus’ life.

In three years of ministry, Jesus planted a church, equipped leaders and assisted the poor, Warren said.

“Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor,” said Warren, . “I don’t know about you, but for a long time I had blinders on about this. I went to a Baptist college and two seminaries and it wasn’t un