Much has been done in New Orleans since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina; much remains to be done.
NEW ORLEANS – Much has been done in New Orleans since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina; much remains to be done.
Southern Baptists, in great measure because of the work and ministry done by thousands of trained Disaster Relief and other volunteers, have acquired a good reputation in the multi-parish region covered by BAGNO, the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans.
The question before pastors and associational leaders – especially in light of the impending retirements next spring of Director of Missions Joe McKeever and his second, Freddie Arnold – is how best to capitalize on the good that has been done for the glory of God and in the name of Jesus.
In addition to McKeever’s and Arnold’s retirements, BAGNO and the North American Mission Board are in discussion about the future management and ownership of the four mission centers NAMB owns in New Orleans, as well as the future oversight of NOAH (New Orleans Area Hope) Rebuild efforts.
Further compounding the need for a new strategy: the region has about 50 fewer Southern Baptist congregations, and about 160,000 fewer area residents.
Consideration of these three concerns led to the adoption of BAGNO’s 2020 Vision strategy in May 2008, which included new positions and job descriptions.
The 2020 Vision calls for visionary leadership, maintaining community relevance, church planting, associational restructure, and strengthening existing churches and missions centers. These five “critical issues” as identified by BAGNO’s strategy planning team, are “intended to unify the Baptist Community – locally, statewide and nationally – to become pro-active, God-inspired leaders in the recovery of New Orleans and surrounding parishes,” according to a position paper dated April 28, 2008, and approved at the association’s spring meeting.
“We’ve been working on this initiative since June of 2007,” said Mike Flores, businessman and member of the BAGNO strategy planning team. He also is chairman of the search committee for a new director of missions and the new positions being established under the reorganization of the association.
Resumes are being accepted for the Director of Missions, who will be “responsible for overall management and operation of [BAGNO] and protection of the organization’s financial assets, while ensuring compliance with the ministry and missions objectives of the current BAGNO Strategy Plan,” according to the three-page job description posted to the www.bagnola.org website.
Arnold, trained as a “Sunday School man” and originally called as a church planting strategist, became BAGNO’s de facto Disaster Relief coordinator after Katrina. The 2020 Vision calls for the hiring of four people to take Arnold’s place: Church Planting Strategist, Church Development Strategist, Community Rebuild Strategist and Mission Center Strategist.
“Our 2020 Vision includes a complete reorganization of the association so we could best meet the needs of the community post-Katrina,” Flores said. “We have a 12-year window of opportunity between 2008 and 2020 to help in the restructuring of this community. We must rethink all our pre-Katrina mission and ministry activities and become pro-active in assuming leadership roles in the recovery of the New Orleans region. We should focus our activities on more hands-on activities outside the walls of our churches and, following the example set by the ‘Good Samaritan,’ bring the love of God to our neighbors by a willingness to meet their physical, spiritual and emotional needs.
“As part of the strategic planning process, the strategy Planning Team felt that a thorough assessment of the current mission center activities was necessary to confirm their relevance in Post-Katrina New Orleans,” Flores continued. “Our pre-Katrina mission center activities were developed within the framework of a conventional, urban community, The ‘community’ aspects of New Orleans today have changed significantly as a result of the storm events of 2005.
“Another area that requires rethinking is ‘post-disaster activities,’” Flores continued. “Baptists are experts in disaster response. However, we are still grappling with what disaster recovery activities should include. The Community Rebuild and Mission Center Strategist positions came out of that discussion. The Church Development Strategist position came out of a discussion on how we as an association might help churches best minister in their communities.”
“In October 2008, the parishes of Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard remain in a state of ‘Crisis,’” Flores said. “Thirty-eight months after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the area, more than 150,000 residents have not returned. Federal funds have just begun to flow and the community continues to grapple with problems of poor leadership and lack of direction in the development of specific ‘recovery’ initiatives.
“The BAGNO community of churches – which has been reduced from 145 to 96 active congregations and missions as a result of the devastation caused by the flooding of August, 2005 – are still seeking solutions and opportunities for active participation in the recovery process,” Flores said
It’s a daunting task, one possible only with God’s intervention, Flores said.
“We’re going forward on faith,” Flores said. “We have studied and prayed about this, and seek God’s hand in His meeting our financial needs.” Ongoing discussions are taking place with NAMB for funding of the new positions, he added.
BAGNO has set for itself an ambitious strategy “with intent to develop by 2020 the association into a force to be reckoned with and will be transforming our city with the Gospel of Christ,” according to the position paper.
The association is to lead the churches in local and global short-term mission initiatives, including a bi- annual, city-wide evangelistic outreach event, and it is to develop a global prayer center as part of its goal of “visionary leadership.”
A community recovery committee is to assess conditions in the area and develop a specific plan of action. DOM “lieutenants” are to be “point persons” for all BAGNO, LBC and NAMB mission activities in southeast Louisiana.
Also under the “community relevance” umbrella, a disaster relief/recovery unit is to be developed, and accountability/oversight is to be developed so NAMB’s four missions/ministry centers – Rachel Sims, Friendship House, Carver Center and Brantley Center – can “become strategic dimensions of BAGNO activities.”
The third critical issue – church planting – is straight-forward: “Identify unengaged people groups and church planting opportunities.” A church planting discovery team also is to secure a church planting strategist, assemble funding, secure church planters and sponsoring churches.
Leadership at all levels is to be redefined. Programs, committees and personnel all are to be examined. But perhaps the most creative aspect of BAGNO’s new look is the way it plans to help strengthen existing churches.
In addition to continuing with annual church leadership training events such as Ridgecrest on the River, multiple “first impression teams” are to be created that by invitation will go to churches to record their first impressions of programs, properties and member involvement. “Development teams” are to go in by invitation to lead churches and missions centers to implement actions and processes to achieve healthy church growth.
“It’s a great time to be a Baptist in New Orleans!” McKeever writes on the front page of the association’s website – www.bagnola.org – “We are a blend of a hundred or so Southern Baptist churches of many races and ethnicities, united by our love for Jesus Christ, our commitment to God’s Word, and our partnership in carrying out the Great Commission.”