All across North America, Southern Baptists are working in order to spread
the gospel of Jesus Christ – and they know their efforts depend on the prayers
and gifts of others
All across North America, Southern Baptists are working in order to spread
the gospel of Jesus Christ – and they know their efforts depend on the prayers
and gifts of others
Editors Note: March 4-11 has been scheduled as the 2001
Week of Prayer for North American Missions. The following articles focus on
missionaries featured during this years week of prayer and giving through
the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions. The theme of
this years emphasis is “On Mission Together.” The goal for the
2001 offering is $50 million.
Just one block away from New Orleans glitzy French Quarter district and
glamorous Canal Street is the last place most thrill-seekers would step into
when visiting the Louisiana city.
After all, this is “the city that care forgot.”
This is where “laissez les bon temps roullez” (“Let
the good times roll”) is the death-defying guiding force behind the actions
of some men and women.
Many come only to indulge themselves completely in this citys
strange mix of exotic cultures and European charm, neon lights and crystal chandeliers,
24-hour cafes and world-renowned haute cuisine – along with readily-accessible
liquor and gambling. While some people come seeking a job, the lure of unrestrained
irresponsibility eventually can become synonymous with fun even for them.
But when the supposed good times are long gone and friends
have deserted such people, Ginger Smith is waiting to take them in, waiting
to help.
Since 1995, Smith has served as social services coordinator
at the Clovis L. Brantley Baptist Center in downtown New Orleans. She oversees
the centers womens and childrens shelter; supervises the self-assessment
phase of a Christian rehabilitation program; and leads Bible studies and classes
on computer-skills, GED preparation, parenting skills, job readiness and anger
management. She also is the centers community referral and resource specialist.
Smith says she “always wanted to work with people but
didnt know exactly how God wanted to use me.”
No one in her family ever had been involved in vocational ministry
– let alone inner-city social service ministry. Nevertheless, the Arkansas
native applied for summer missions service while still in high school. When
she was approved to serve at an inner-city ministry center in Houston, Texas,
it was a shock to her parents – who told her she could not go. But they
came around after a personal visit from veteran missionary Mildred McWhorter
– the centers director.
The three months went by safely, and when it was time to start
her first year of college, Smith says, “I knew that my life had changed
forever.”
Smith spent every summer of her four years in college doing
a variety of mission projects, including one in Hong Kong. After college, she
struggled to decide whether to go to seminary or back to Hong Kong.
Smith says she never felt a peace about going to Hong Kong.
Instead, within 24 hours of her arrival at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary,
Smith had an interview to work at Brantley. “I knew from the first day
that I was going to work here, that this was my place of ministry,” she
says.
Smith served a two-year internship at the center before becoming
an appointed missionary of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.
Smith is one of three Southern Baptist missionaries at the
Brantley Center, where “soup, soap and salvation” continue to play
important roles. The center is New Orleans only Southern Baptist homeless
shelter. It was established in 1927.
In addition to various ministries, the center still features
the preaching of the gospel as its central purpose. Besides morning Bible studies,
nightly preaching services are held – often led by seminary students and
area ministers, including New Orleans Seminary Vice President for Business Affairs
Clay Corvin.
“Ginger is a jewel,” says Corvin, whose volunteer
work at the Brantley Center has spanned 20-plus years. “Shes one-of-a-kind.
Ive seen a lot of people go in and out of here. She is truly Christlike
and has such a sweet, patient, kind spirit.”
Of course, that might make Smith seem a little too innocent
to New Orleans notorious “ways of the world.” But she says she
learned her lessons well in school, through her several mission trips and especially
during her internship.
She now is described by the male staff members at Brantley
as “an alcoholic
and drug addicts worst
nightmare.”
A Texas man just finishing the centers program agrees.
“She takes her work seriously. … Shes taught me that even as manipulative
as we can be, God sees right through it, and she sees right through it. I needed
that.”
A fellow staff member who has endured the hardships of the
street adds:
“Ginger has taught me you cant just read the Bible.
“You have to live it.”
Another former homeless man says he now has a passion for inner-city
ministry because he was helped so much by Smith and her supervisor, Tobey Pitman.
“I used to think, Yall could be doing better things with your
lives instead of being down here with us druggies. ” the man
notes. “But now, I just cant help feeling like God wants me to do
what I can for other people too.”
One of the things Smith says she enjoys about ministry in is
that “bottom line, people dont pretend in New Orleans.
“People living here are who they really are – colored
hair, multiple piercings, different lifestyle, everything.”
On the other hand, New Orleans can be a difficult place to
minister, “as people can have the attitude that there are no consequences
to their actions,” Smith adds. “They come here to revel in uncontrolled
freedom. When theyre here, some people dont have moral lives for
themselves like they would if they were in other places.”
In the late afternoon, the smell of bleach lingers upstairs
in the separate mens and womens floors. A total of 232 guests can
be sheltered at the New Orleans center each night. Everything may be rough,
but it is spotless. Smith works hard to keep germs away from her guests –
and to offer them a clean and safe place to stay.
Over the years, faithful Southern Baptists have donated the
mattresses, sheets, blankets, towels and clothing used at the center. However,
since the traffic is so steady and usually to capacity, Smith always finds herself
in need of new items. Area restaurants often donate food. Nothing is ever wasted
or taken for granted, Smith emphasizes.
Smith refers to the centers transient boarders as the
“shelter guests.” She says she is determined to offer a place “where
we treat them like theyre human beings” rather than as a faceless
number among hundreds of others.
“People are people, regardless of their money or status,”
Smith insists. “I dont see them as homeless people.”
Smith says she works hard at remembering the names of shelter
guests, at making their birthdays special and at helping them to become responsible
and productive.
However, most of all Smith says she enjoys helping those who
come to the center to know Christ as their personal savior, to use his strength
to overcome their addictions and to grow in knowledge and service to him.
While secular-based social workers are burning out emotionally
and physically all around her, Smith says she holds on to a verse from the Old
Testament to keep herself from falling into depression or cynicism.
“Dont be discouraged,” it reads. (Josh. 1:9).
“I keep reminding myself that Im not here to be
a social worker,” Smith says about her ministry at Brantley Center.
“Im here to share the love of God with people – and that’s
not a discouraging job.”