Katrina - Baptist Message

Hurricane Katrina:
10 Years Later

Reflections of God and His people working through tragic circumstances to bring His glory.

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Four ways to avoid a Blue Christmas

By David Hankins, Executive Director, Louisiana Baptists In 1957, Elvis Presley released the song “Blue Christmas” in which he crooned “You’ll be doin’ alright with your Christmas of white but I’ll have a blue, blue Christmas.” Elvis is not the only one who has experienced a blue Christmas. Counselors and researchers have long noted that the Christmas season is associated with sadness, depression, even to the point of suicide, for many, many … Continue reading.

A house in the lower Ninth Ward shows the effects from Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent nine feet of water which covered the area after the levees broke.

These are women from the African-American Fellowship of Ga. They brought a big group to help Franklin Avenue hand out Welcome Home packages.

Planting the Christian flag in New Orleans, said Bobby Welch (center), president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is “an expression of our hope the Gospel of Jesus Christ will go forth as never before in New Orleans.” Accompanying Welch: David Hankins (left), executive director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention; Fred Luter, New Orleans pastor, (striped shirt) and Stephen Trammell, Baton Rouge pastor.

Hawaii Kai BC, Honolulu came 7 times to help Franklin Avenue members rebuild homes. They held a crawfish boil in the neighborhood after they finished one home.

Gentilly Baptist Church, like so many other parts of New Orleans, provided a silent but graphic testimony of Hurricane Katrina’s sorrowful legacy. No part of the church facility was left untouched by the floodwaters caused from the breaks in the levees. Six to eight feet of water rose through halls where weeks before worshipers walked.

Baptist Crossroads and Habitat for Humanity teamed up to build 30 new homes in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans, calls the site “the most hopeful place in New Orleans.”

Clay Parks, Dry Ridge Baptist Church, KY does electrical work as he helps with the rebuilding of homes in New Orleans. He was one of 21,000 volunteers to help New Orleans get back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina.

Three years ago this wall, designed to protect residents from rising waters in the 17th Street Canal, suffered a 600-foot breach as waters from Lake Ponchartrain were forced back by Katrina's storm surge.

Sam Rainer, Thom Rainer's son, came with a group of Southern Seminary students to help with the rebuilding of New Orleans. He was pastor of Floyds Knob BC, Floyds Knob, Ky.

Colorado Task Force 1 Hazardous Materials Technician Jeff Meyers carries an infant to safety after being discovered floating on a furniture cushion inside of a house where the parents were incapacitated.

When Pastor John Galey returned in October 2005 to Poydras Baptist Church in St. Bernard Parish, La., he found that floodwaters had risen to four and a half feet in the worship center, fellowship hall and educational building. He also found the hymnal at the mud-crusted church piano open to the last song played before Hurricane Katrina: "Victory in Jesus."

The Industrial Canal flows through the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. When the levee broke because of a storm surge is sent more than nine feet of water sweeping through the area demolishing most of the homes and trapping thousands of people. The U.S. Corps of Engineers has since replaced the old levee wall with a new, more effective one.

One of the many houses that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding in the Gentilly.

The Lower Ninth Ward looks like a network of country roads now where houses stood block upon block. Some are rebuilding in the area, but many are forced to live elsewhere in the city or in other states.

Trucks from the Louisiana National Guard bring people rescued from the rising flood waters to the Louisiana Superdome days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Crescent City.

Jessica Lauderdale, a volunteer with World Changers, struggles to drag a tarp filled with trash and molded insulation out of a house they were gutting.

Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Huerta hoists two children into a Coast Guard rescue helicopter during the ongoing rescue mission which went on for several weeks.

Cartoon by Joe McKeever

A University of Arkansas student works on cleaning up Edgewater Baptist Church. Volunteers from across the country came to help the people and churches of New Orleans get back on their feet after Hurricane Katrina.

Boats are stacked at the foot of the Empire Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina after floodwaters flooded the small city of Buras. Photo by Derick E. Hingle

The steeple at Edgewater Baptist Church is shown hanging precariously after being blown over by the winds of Hurricane Katrina. The photo was taken by David Platt, now president of the International Mission Board. He was staff evangelist at Edgewater at the time.

Pastor Dennis Watson watched as boats launched into the flood waters around his Celebration Church. One month later, the congregation that was reduced to one-quarter of its size met for worship in a facility at Utica St. and Transcontinental Ave. The property was a purchase the congregation had finalized just two weeks prior to the storm.

Arkansas Baptist volunteers braved the hot Louisiana sun to climb on top of a house’s roof to spread out a blue tarp until the roof could be permanently repaired.

This woman is from the African-American Fellowship of Georgia. They brought a big group to help Franklin Avenue hand out Welcome Home packages.

A series of pumps have been installed at the 17th Street Canal whose breach during Katrina begain a chain reaction of breaches that would prove overwhelmingly destructive. These pumps provide the canal with equilibrium and a system of locks to hold back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain.

Cartoon by Joe McKeever

A rusted mailbox stuffed and unchecked hangs near the door of an abandoned house backing up to the 17th Street Canal. Surrounding houses remain untouched as well.

Because of a decision by its building committee, First Baptist New Orleans was spared any flood damage all because the church had been built higher than required. It became a focal point for recovery efforts in New Orleans.

Tons of food, clothing and household supplies crowded the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Slidell, where about 5 feet of floodwater had invaded the first floor in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina flooded Franklin Avenue Baptist Church with nine feet of water. In January 2006, worship services began taking place in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Houston where many of its members had fled to escape the storm.

Members of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Missouri Task Force check houses impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The members are taking off vents on the roof to search for people stuck in their attic.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Beaty looks for survivors of Hurricane Katrina as he flies over New Orleans in a Coast Guard rescue helicopter.

Pastor Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, wipes away a tear as he surveys the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina to his church and the surrounding area.

Southern Baptists’ feeding units, like this one, played a key role in serving more than 6 million meals.

People gathered for a time of prayer at Celebration Church’s Airline campus.

Members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team pray with a seminary family Oct. 5, 2005. Volunteers spent five days on campus ministering to hurting students, staff members and professors.

President Chuck Kelley leads the Post-Katrina planning session at the North Georgia Campus Sept. 1. During the meeting, the team of administrators, professors and staff members developed a plan to continue fall classes.

The message on the shirt of this volunteer at Celebration Church’s disaster relief site tells the story of what Southern Baptists did following Hurricane Katrina.

Franklin Graham gives a moment of assurance to displaced Lower Ninth Ward resident Eric Jones during a visit through Hurricane Katrina-devastated areas of New Orleans in March of 2006.

First Covington Pastor Waylon Bailey (center) listens intently to an update from Disaster Relief. He held services that first Sunday after the storm in the parking because there was no power.

Photos were courtesy of Baptist Press, First New Orleans, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, Celebration Church, First Covington, Joe McKeever, Keith Manuel, Loy Seal, Norm Miller, John Frady, Marilyn Stewart, Derick E. Hingle, Jerry Ward, FEMA, Louisiana National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and Allan Campbell.

HURRICANE KATRINA

Four ways to avoid a Blue Christmas

The Stories

Katrina: Personal reflections from Pastor Dennis Watson

Luter on Katrina: The church scattered became the church gathered

FIRST-PERSON: New Orleans’ Katrina story still being written

Katrina, a decade later

After Katrina: What God brought out of chaos

David Hankins: Remembering Katrina

Southern Baptists undertook monumental task of helping New Orleans rebuild

600 Katrina evacuees found shelter at Istrouma Baptist in Baton Rouge

Baptist response warms hearts to the Gospel

Baton Rouge Baptist Churches provided shelter, food, clothing

God does a work on New Orleans during, after storm

Stories of the storm

NOBTS celebrates God’s redemption

LSU students pitched in to help Katrina evacuees

North Shore Association born from Katrina’s destruction

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