By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Katrina is indelibly inked in the memory of Louisiana and the world. Revised nationwide numbers by the National Hurricane Center show that 1,392 people were killed and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there was an economic loss of $201.3 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation), making Katrina the most expensive hurricane in U.S. history.
Importantly, this enormous scope of tragedy combined with the thousands of triumphs that emerged demonstrate that God is stronger than the storm.
This is particularly true in the disparate cases of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church (whose campus was inundated by nine feet of water) and First Baptist Church New Orleans (whose facilities escaped the floodwater).
Due to the extent of facility damages and the dislocation across the country of so many church members who had no safe place to stay, Fred Luter was forced to be something of an itinerant pastor to his FABC congregation. He eventually set up a routine to preach first and third Sundays in New Orleans and the second and fourth Sundays in Houston, and he continued this schedule until the congregation was able to move back into renovated facilities in 2008. Remarkably, although many members stayed in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Memphis, the congregation swelled to 6,000 after reconstituting, causing it to construct new facilities, completed in 2018, in New Orleans East. Moreover, Pastor Luter’s leadership during the catastrophe and recovery was recognized across the Southern Baptist Convention, leading to his election in 2012 as the first African American president of America’s largest evangelical fellowship of churches.
Meanwhile, First Baptist Church, New Orleans, had moved to a new location in June 2004, to a higher elevation in the city. Additionally, the church chose to build on a higher foundation on top of that. Consequently, the floodwater only came within inches of the door thresholds on the first floor but did not enter the facilities. Thus, the building became an immediate haven of rescue for many displaced neighbors and when recovery efforts began, the campus became a strategic distribution center for goods and volunteers. Moreover, Pastor David Crosby had a vision prior to Katrina to establish housing in the Ninth Ward, and some property already had been purchased but not developed. So, a blueprint was in place and land was available to help the community recover more quickly.
God is stronger than the storm.
BEYOND KATRINA
Although Katrina remains a focus of national attention every five years, Hurricane Rita also hit Louisiana a mere 26 days after Katrina made landfall. Moreover, since Katrina, dozens of natural disasters have struck the state, including floods (2016 — 23 north and central parishes in March, 56 south and southeast parishes in August); crippling ice storms (to start and end 2017); and four catastrophic hurricanes (2020-2021: Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in Louisiana effectively shut down in-person worship for a year, starting in March 2020.
Yet, Louisiana Baptists planted 300 new churches from 2010 through 2022 (two years longer than the goal due to COVID-19), with those congregations producing more than 14,000 faith decisions and almost 4,000 baptisms.
Indeed, since the end of COVID-19 restrictions, Louisiana Baptists have experienced four successive year-over-year increases in annual baptisms (8,049 in 2024), moving closer toward the goal of 10,000 baptisms in a year. This is remarkable considering the state lost population during each year from 2021-2023.
Another church planting initiative is underway, Send Network Louisiana, which is a joint effort between Louisiana Baptists and the North American Mission Board to establish 231 new congregations by 2033 with the goal of increasing the Kingdom in our state by one percent (28,875 new believers, or 125 baptisms per church plant).
Undoubtably, Louisiana Baptists will face other storms in the future – perhaps during this hurricane season. But an unknown writer reminds us “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea” (Psalm 93:4, NKJV).
God is stronger than the storm, and in Him we are stronger than the storm too.
