St. Tammany Parish officials have asked Tobey Pitman, executive director of the Brantley Baptist Center in New Orleans, to serve on the North Shore parish’s Emergency Operations Committee.
SLIDELL – St. Tammany Parish officials have asked Tobey Pitman, executive director of the Brantley Baptist Center in New Orleans, to serve on the North Shore parish’s Emergency Operations Committee.
In addition, Pitman is leading Slidell pastors in carrying out a community assessment, a product of an agreement made in January between the Louisiana Baptist Convention, the North American Mission Board, and North Shore Baptist Association.
“I will serve as a volunteer liaison between the EOC and the entire faith-based community of St. Tammany,” Pitman explained. “Disaster planners added the faith-based liaison because they saw firsthand the resources that Southern Baptists and others brought into the region.”
The position as liaison can only help the ongoing work of the community assessment, as Pitman makes connections among community leaders and churches.
“A community assessment is a ministry tool to help discover and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and resources for ministry in the community,” Pitman said.
Cities along the North Shore – such as Slidell, Lacombe, Mandeville, and Covington – have seen a great influx of people since Hurricane Katrina, Pitman said. The entire North Shore region has grown by more than 60,000 residents. The increased population has stressed infrastructures such as housing, highways, and power grids.
The SBC-initiated community assessment, set for one single day in October, can provide avenues for Southern Baptist churches to meet the needs of the growing population.
Right now, Pitman is learning of those needs, networking with community leaders, and working to set up appointments for the upcoming assessment, he said. He hopes to have at least 30 contacts with community leaders by then.
“Answers are always interesting,” Pitman said, referring to meetings with community leaders about how churches can help meet needs.
“Community leaders have not historically given churches credit for being the important community resources that they are,” he added. “However, Hurricane Katrina provided a great opportunity to change that view in dramatic ways.”
Katrina put Southern Baptists on the front lines of disaster relief, which has changed how community leaders understand the resources churches can provide, Pitman added.
“Parish leaders also depend upon the voice and credibility of the church to speak to citizens, parishioners, neighborhoods, and people with special needs,” he continued.
Slidell Mayor Ben Morris has been one of the first to acknowledge the contribution of Southern Baptists after the storm – especially Grace Memorial Baptist Church and First Baptist in Slidell – both active in community relief after Katrina, Pitman said.
“‘They pulled us out of the woods,’ the mayor said,” Pitman added.
“The good news is that for so many years we’ve had to beg our way to the table, but since the storm, we’ve earned our way to the table,” Pitman continued. “The churches that thrived [during that time] got outside their walls looking for ways to help.
“We want to cling to this success, but also use it to catapult into future ministry,” Pitman said.
On the day in October Southern Baptists will do the community assessment, Pitman is planning for at least two church leaders to sit down with each community leader with whom Pitman has scheduled an appointment, the local strategist said.
In that meeting, Pitman said he hopes at least four things will occur:
1) church leaders will learn what gaps exist in the community infrastructure in meeting the needs of residents;
2) the relationships between community leaders and the churches will be strengthened;
3) church leaders can pray with the community leaders, asking God’s leadership; and
4) the churches can determine how they can fill gaps and meet needs in their community, becoming a light for Christ in their neighborhoods.
After the meetings, Pitman plans to construct a list of needs in Slidell, which he’ll then distribute to each church. Each church can then take action on those needs based upon its location, resources, and interests, Pitman said.
“We are inviting the participation of all the churches in Slidell,” Pitman said. In addition, NAMB and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary have agreed to provide exact demographics of the community and neighborhoods to see what community areas “fall in the shadow of each steeple.”
Pitman expects to be involved in this effort through February 2008, he said. At that point, the agreement with LBC, NAMB and North Shore Baptist Association can be reevaluated, depending upon how his responsibilities at the Brantley Center have changed.
The Brantley Center, NAMB’s homeless shelter, has not reopened as a shelter for homeless people since Katrina, thus freeing Pitman to some degree to focus his efforts in other areas, he said.
“There is ongoing discussion about the re-emergence of the Brantley Center,” Pitman said. “However, homelessness is different in New Orleans since Katrina. In fact, the entire need structure has changed in the city. Any ministry center must be relevant to the needs within the community; therefore we continue to study the needs of the city.”