NEW ORLEANS – At least three Southern Baptist pastors were rescued from their attics last September by First Responders activated even as Katrina was bearing down on the port city.
By Karen L. Willoughby
Managing Editor
NEW ORLEANS – At least three Southern Baptist
pastors were rescued from their attics last September by First
Responders activated even as Katrina was bearing down on the port city.
The Southern Baptist chaplain at University Hospital was rescued too.
And so were countless thousands of members and attenders of the
region’s 154 Southern Baptist churches and missions.
“Many of our [Louisiana] troopers were separated
from their families; some didn’t know where their families had been
evacuated to, but they were continually on the line, getting people to
a safe place,” said Cherry Blackwell, member at Williams Boulevard
Baptist Church, which opened its facilities to First Responders from
early September to nearly Thanksgiving.
“We even had some National Guardsmen who had just
returned from Iraq and were here instead of with their families,”
Blackwell said. “We want to say ‘Thank you’ for the personal sacrifices
they made.”
To say ‘Thank you’ in a meaningful way, Louisiana
Baptists and BAGNO – the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans –
has rented the New Orleans Arena from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April
8, (at a greatly-reduced cost because of Blackwell’s contacts) for an
oversized “block party” in the place where more than 16,000 people
heard Billy Graham preach last month.
Police, fire and emergency medical technicians from
six parishes, plus Coast Guard, military, wildlife and fisheries and
humane society workers, and workers from all the hospitals that stayed
open, all have been invited to bring their families to the event.
Blackwell, who with her husband Ben directs NAMB’s
Mission Service Corps effort in Louisiana, was recommended by her
pastor, John Faull, to coordinate the Thank You First Responders event.
About 15 of BAGNO’s remaining 40 churches will be
hosting game booths, puppets, balloon animals and musical activities.
Many door prizes are slated to be given away, possibly including a
vehicle.
“I know the entire city has been so appreciative and
in different ways said thank you,” Blackwell said. “For us, this is
personal. Our number one priority after saying thank you is that we
want them to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.”