Reflections on the Work of the Ministry Team

As a squad leader on one of the seven ministry teams that go out into the community each day, I have been greatly encouraged by the commitment of the members of each team to the power of the gospel of Christ. Pastor Don Elbourne, Jr., pastor of Lakeshore Bapt. Church, gave us a list of approximately 200 names and addresses that he asked us to visit. These are people who have received help in one form or another from Lakeshore Bapt. Church, since hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf shores over 5 years ago. The names were divided up among the seven ministry teams, consisting of three people each, and we have gone to their homes to seek to assess any needs they might have, pray with them, speak gospel truth to them if possible, and invite them to a free dinner on Friday night followed by a worship service in which the gospel will be proclaimed.

Some of the attempts to contact these people are met with frustration as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has left many people in a transient position. For example today, my team tried to locate three people that were supposed to be living in a trailer park. When we arrived at the address, there was no trailer park. More than likely it was a temporary park equipped with trailers supplied by FEMA. Now that FEMA is removing those trailers (even though many of the people have no place to go) the trailer parks are empty. Sometimes the address is wrong and the people we are seeking are not there or people just are not home. On the other hand, others are at home, at the correct address. Usually when we mention that we are visiting on behalf of Lakeshore Bapt. Church, it opens the doors to conversations, so great has been the impact of this small church in its efforts to help people rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina. Pastor Elbourne noted that to us, Katrina is 5 years in the past. To many of these people it is still a contemporary reality with ongoing consequences. One 25 year old man told one of my team members that he divides his life into “pre-Katrina and post-Katrina.”
Today, we visited with a lady who had lost everything in Katrina. She mentioned over and over again how the church had helped her get back on her feet. She said she did not know what she would have done without the church. Now her husband was suffering from lung cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. We prayed with her for strength and grace for both she and her husband, gave her an evangelistic booklet, and invited her to come to the Friday night dinner. Our prayer is that she would come and sit under the proclamation of the gospel.

Sometimes, the frustrations are seen as God providing unplanned opportunities. Yesterday, my team was unable to find a particular address. However, across the street from where the address should have been, a lady was sitting on her front porch. We approached her and asked her if she knew where the people on our list lived. She did not know because she had recently moved to the house, having lost everything in the hurricane. When we asked her about her experience with the hurricane, she told us that she tried to ride out the hurricane but the storm surge swept her house completely away. She was in the water for eight hours the day of the hurricane.  At first she was trying to keep from getting swept inland by the surge, which went inland for 14 miles. Then as the storm surge began to subside, she fought to keep from being swept back out to sea. She survived by holding onto trees or anything else that she could grab. She was finally rescued after the storm subsided.
Sadly, as we spoke to her about how close she was to death during that time, she was resistant to the gospel. It caused us to realize that those who have suffered through the terrible ordeal that was Hurricane Katrina, need far more than physical and material help. They need to have their spiritual eyes enlightened. How someone could go through such a terrifying experience as she did and not cry out to God for mercy is inconceivable. It is a testimony to the truth of the doctrine of man’s depravity. We pray as we go out on these visits, that God will open doors for ministry and that the Holy Spirit will open blinded eyes. We covet the prayers of God’s people that we may labor together for the faith of the gospel.

Pastor Fred Pugh,
of Olmsted Township, OH