By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS – Four months after an EF-3 tornado heavily damaged Suburban Baptist Church, the congregation assembled Sunday, June 11, for the first gathering on its campus since the storm. The message to the community during this block party was strong – the members have not given up and plan to return to full ministry in the neighborhood when their facilities are rebuilt. REUNITING & RENEWING Many of the congregants who showed up shared moments of laughter and a few thankful tears about how far God had taken them since the tornado destroyed the worship center and damaged two other buildings, Feb. 7. Myiah Scott, who joined the church a year after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the facilities in August 2005, said at first it was discouraging when she saw news footage of the damage. But, like other members, Scott knew giving up was not an option. “When a lot of the church seemed to be gone, we felt at first that we had nowhere to go and a piece of us was gone,” she said. “This is the place we go to pray, to praise God with our songs and to have a good time. But God reminded me that our church is more than a building. “I feel like God wants us to rebuild,” she … [Read more...]

By Will Hall, Message Editor As Ricky Belgard spoke from the pulpit of Philadelphia Baptist Church at the Horseshoe Drive campus in Alexandria,  he said he was thinking of the lengthy ramp that would have been needed only seven weeks ago for him to have made it up on the platform. “Now, I’m standing on higher ground,” he celebrated. Belgard shared with the congregation that evening, June 4, how God had healed him from being bound, long-term, to a wheelchair while facing the prognosis of a slow death from the combination of two deadly conditions. LIFE OR DEATH “I have had Multiple Sclerosis for many years,” Belgard shared, “then the doctors discovered I don’t just have MS, but I have a problem in the brain stem. The brain stem controls all of your bodily functions that are supposed to be automatic -- like your breathing and your heart -- all those things you’re not supposed to think about. “Well, mine started shutting down,” he explained. “And so, four and a half years ago, I’m in the hospital and I already know what’s coming up because this disease is terminal.” BAD TO WORSE Belgard had signed a “do not resuscitate” order and despite requests by the nurses and doctors to intubate him and put him on life … [Read more...]