Editor’s note: Like hundreds of thousands of others, Joe McKeever fled New Orleans when the threat of direct hit by a hurricane, prophesied for decades, suddenly seemed plausible. Now, like hundreds of pastors who evacuated, Joe is waiting to return. But when he comes home, Joe will be trying to reassemble not just one shattered congregation, but more than a hundred. He writes: “Many have been washed out of existence and their members scattered so severely that the church will never be reassembled. At least, not on earth.”
Joe McKeever, most familiar to Leadership readers for his delightful cartoons, is also a pastor to pastors as Director of Mission of the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. In 15 years of ministry there, Joe fell in love with the city that some revere, some revile, and that now lies in ruins. Speaking to Associated Press religion columnist Terry Mattingly, McKeever delivered a mini-sermon he calls “What New Orleans and Heaven Have in Common.”
“Obviously, people in heaven and in New Orleans love the saints,” McKeever told Mattingly via a shaky cell-phone link from Mississippi. “Both places love a party, since heaven has always had a good reason to party and New Orleans doesn’t need a reason. And then there’s I-10, an interstate highway that will get you to either place really quick, if you aren’t careful.” The other reason Heaven and New Orleans are alike, Joe says, is a “simple matter of diversity. Both places are made up of people from every nation under the sun. Whenever I hear people say they want to reach the world for Jesus Christ, I tell them to come to New Orleans—it’s already here.”
Joe began blogging his exilic experience just after the hurricane hit, and he agreed for Leadership to share some excerpts.
September 7: No offerings, no payday
After a meeting of church leaders in nearby Baton Rouge, I was glad to run into a half dozen New Orleans pastors whom we had not heard from. At one point, a couple of them sidled up and said in low tones, “Joe, is there any financial help anywhere? We’ve not had a paycheck.” I told them there was indeed. Dr. Hankins gave me money to give them, then Bobby Welch handed me a roll from his famous money bag, a roll which we used to say on the farm would “burn a wet mule,” and I was able to give them some good help. Then I went looking for some of the other pastors.
If we were allowed to return home tomorrow, the first order of business for our office would be to find out which churches still exist. Many have been washed out of existence and their members scattered so severely that the church will never be reassembled. At least, not on earth.”
September 10: What will we do?
A young pastor of a church in east New Orleans that was fairly well destroyed said to me, “What will we ever do? I don’t know what to do now.”
I wrote back in my e-mail, “My friend, you are about to see something you will be talking about the rest of your life. God is about to do a work that will change your ministry forever, and you will always be grateful you were there to see it happen.
“God has directed the attention of the world to New Orleans, and the attention of all of Southern Baptists to the churches of New Orleans. Soon, you will have a dozen or more churches to adopt your church. They’ll be sending people in to help you. If your church has to be bulldozed and rebuilt from scratch, you’ll have lots of friends to help.”
September 11: Holy opposition
This morning, I preached in Meek Baptist Church in Arley, Alabama. This is on the banks of Smith Lake, a resort area. They had over 200 in attendance. I talked with them about I Corinthians 16:9 where Paul says, “A wide door for effective service is open for us and there are many obstacles.”
I told the congregation that naive people, those with a shallow understanding of Scripture, perhaps think if God opens the door for a great advance, there could not possibly be any opposition. And likewise, if there is opposition, it’s a sign God is not in it. Both are wrong.
A little Scripture study takes care of that, doesn’t it? The history of the movement of God’s kingdom through the ages is a story of great opportunities on the one hand while facing incredible opposition from the enemy on the other hand. And often the obstacles grow out of the opportunity, and the opportunity grows out of the obstacle.
September 14: A new day in New Orleans
Several times a day I’m getting e-mails from people informing me their church is ready and willing to come to New Orleans to help a church rebuild. They know we’re not ready for company yet. In fact, we’re not even home yet. Although daily we hear reports of some residents being invited to re-enter very soon. As soon as it happens, we’ll be open for business and ready to welcome teams from the churches … so long as they understand a few things.
Understand that New Orleans is going to be different. No tours this time to exotic locales. No dining out in your favorite restaurants. It’s all work this time.
Understand that you may be working from can to can’t, from dark in the morning until dark in the evening. I still recall a group from a church I served in Mississippi going to New Jersey and working for two weeks to build a complete church, and one of the men remarking to another, “I don’t work this hard for money.” That’s the point. Do it for Jesus.
I said to someone today that New Orleans—as well as the entire devastated region—is going to receive love and prayers and gifts and volunteers from the entire nation, perhaps to an extent never shown before in any similar situation. It humbles me so much to think that our city may receive more love than any in history. That should change the culture of this city forever.”
Joe McKeever’s journal can be viewed in its entirety at www.joemckeever.com.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
