Submitted by philip on
By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS – The French Quarter is known for its Mardi Gras bead throwers, restaurant dwellers, fortune tellers and party revelers.
But some may not realize that among the partying and eating is a 49-year-old Louisiana Baptist congregation seeking to reach its community with the gospel.
And the story of how its pastor was led to the city is about as remarkable as how the church has survived hurricanes and financial hardships and impacted the community for nearly five decades in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Situated one block from the infamous Bourbon Street, Vieux Carre Baptist Church draws as many as 30 into its small worship space on any given Sunday morning. Some are homeless, but most live and work in the area surrounding the church.
Their occupations range from coffee house barista to shoe store sales associate to school teacher. Living among those who work and reside in the French Quarter community has been a key to making inroads there, according to Tom Bilderback, pastor of the church.
“We figured out was the best way to make an impact was placing people in businesses down here where no one wants to work and let them live a life that is set apart from the world,” Bilderback said. “This makes an infinite impact. Now our mission is to plant people in business where they will have a significant impact.
“By living and working among our neighbors we are able to show them that we love them,” he continued. “It’s been really cool to watch God work through that and perk peoples’ interest about who Jesus is.”
To that end, Bilderback said every Friday the church holds Shower Fridays. On that day, between 50 and 70 people show up for a meal, shower, clothing and Christian testimony.”
Those that visit may include drug dealers, demonic worshipers and homeless individuals. Bilderback said the Shower Fridays are a way to reach those who may be stepping into a church for the first time.
“From the Shower Fridays, that’s how God allows us to build bridges with those who are far from Christianity,” Bilderback said. “Our numbers don’t reflect all God does here because at the moment people realize they need Christ for an internal change we send many of them away. We partner with facilities out of state for long term faith based rehab or solid families eagerly awaiting their family member to return.
To help reach the community, Bilderback said they rely heavily on individuals who serve as interns for as long as a year and mission teams that may stay for a week.
Both the interns and mission teams reside in the building’s rooms that once served as a laundry facility and office space.
Last year, five interns lived in the building, ministered to their community and helped lead the mission teams, including 250 students. They are partners with Kaleo Missions. The teams coordinated backyard Bible clubs, worked in drug rehabs, city missions, apartment ministry, kids programs and performed repairs on the roof, bathroom and other areas of the building.
“We cast a vision for them to do the same thing in their communities,” Bilderback said. “Like we are doing it in our own community, they can do it in theirs.
“Here, people can experience a different method of ministry than they are used to seeing,” he continued. “Instead of running from broken parts of the city, they can come here and embrace them.”
One of the interns doing just that is Elizabeth Rose Compean, who has been at Vieux Carre Baptist Church since mid-March 2013. Compean said the opportunity to minister to those hurting in the French Quarter and areas nearby led her to come from her home in Huntsville, Ala.
Not only does Compean assist with Shower Fridays, Sunday morning worship and Wednesday night Bible studies at the church but she also is there at times during the weekdays to answer the door for those needing their physical and spiritual needs met.
“We get a lot of visits during the week at our door so we all rotate answering it and try our best to help each person with their needs,” Compean said. “It’s another door of opportunity for ministry.
“From day one I was able to see how the Lord is using them and how they were being obedient to what the Lord had called them to do,” she said. “This church has such a love for people, not just the homeless community but the community at large.”
Started as a mission of First Baptist New Orleans and Elysian Fields Baptist to reach those serving in the hotel industry, Vieux Carre is starting to once again minister to those working in the city’s hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns. The church routinely delivers gift bags to hotel staff, asking how they can pray for those workers.
Indeed, seeing God move has made ministry at Vieux Carre Baptist worth the effort. That includes baptizing five people last year.
Even with the recent increased membership, missions involvement and building improvements, the situation was far different when Bilderback first arrived in 2011.
In 2007, Bilderback was working as a youth minister at a Baptist church in Texas and was leading annual mission trips to New Orleans for his high school students.
“When I came here on a mission trip, I was taken aback,” Bilderback said. “This was a very different place, unlike any we had ever seen. We felt like this was where we would bring our high school students and we did more five years.”
During that time Greg Hand – the pastor at the time – approached Bilderback about becoming the pastor at Vieux Carre Baptist Church. But Bilderback declined on multiple occasions.
“I told him I didn’t want to be a pastor and definitely not a pastor in the French Quarter,” Bilderback said. “I told him I appreciated it and was honored but said no.”
During Mardi Gras in February 2011, Bilderback was asked once more to become the pastor and in August 2011 accepted the call.
When he first arrived, the church was unable to pay him a salary but offered to allow him and his family to live inside the church building, which was in need of repair. Membership stood at around 12 people.
Shortly after arriving, God provided a job as a maintenance worker at a local business in the French Quarter, which opened up chances to minister.
“It was exactly where God wanted me to be,” Bilderback said. “I had more opportunities to share Christ more than ever before. I had people coming to the church from around this area and a year later the church had grown to the point that I didn’t have to hold down a secular full time job anymore.”
Looking back on the experience, Bilderback is in awe of what God has done for him and the congregation of Vieux Carre Baptist Church, and what He will do in the future.
“Some people think that this sounds all too radical and out of the ordinary,” Bilderback said. “I used to say the same things about following Jesus.
“If we just begin with a wholehearted yes I’ll follow you,” he said. “The destination is really of no concern. He prepares and provides so we can just learn to follow.”