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BATON ROUGE, La.?Amid the challenges left behind by Hurricane Katrina, “I think a good prayer would be, ‘Please Lord, don’t leave me here the way I am,'” Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch said Sept. 6 in Baton Rouge, La. “‘Use me.'”
Welch joined Southern California pastor Rick Warren and several other Baptist leaders in addressing an afternoon gathering of pastors, pastors’ wives and church staff members displaced by Katrina. The leaders also spoke at an evening disaster relief worship rally open to Baptists from throughout the state. Both sessions were held at Florida Boulevard Baptist Church.
Warren, taking a cue from the Old Testament prophet Nehemiah, told several hundred people at the afternoon session that “rebuilding the city is always harder than building the city. The same is true of lives.”
Earlier in the day, Louisiana Baptist Convention leaders and Welch met with associational directors of missions and later with several SBC entity heads and state convention leaders.
Louisiana Baptist Convention President Philip Robertson told about 15 of the state’s associational directors of missions (DOMs) that Louisiana churches must mobilize for weeks and months of recovery.
“They’re the lighthouses in the community,” said Robertson, pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church in Pineville. “And if ever they needed a lighthouse it’s now.”
Welch told attendees at the evening rally that disasters don’t discriminate against certain individuals but they affect everyone.
“Many organizations can bring them food, electricity and water they need,” Welch said. “But we can bring them Jesus.”
Welch also said hardships have a way of becoming holy events because the love of Christ can capitalize on catastrophe.
Alluding to his challenge for Southern Baptists to baptize 1 million people in a year, Welch said, “I believe that Louisiana and Mississippi may be poised, themselves, to witness to, win and baptize 1 million people in a year.”
Warren told the afternoon crowd that there are three stages following disasters: the rescue stage, the resuming stage and the rebuilding and relocation stage. The latter is 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 took note of the devastation of Jerusalem by saying, “Let us rid ourselves of this shame and rebuild.”
“God loves to bring good out of bad. 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.”
