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Faith and a tale of three churches - Rising from Ruin - MSNBC.com
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After coming through Hurricane Katrina with its building unscathed, the First Missionary Baptist Church of Bay St. Louis is helping its members and neighbors recover from the storm ? and recruiting new disciples along the way. Click Play below the image to hear Pastor Alan Jenkins talk about his vision of the church's role.
In the heart of Bay St. Louis? African-American community, in an outwardly plain block building at 256 Sycamore St., is the 110-member First Missionary Baptist Church where Pastor Alan Jenkins preaches Sunday mornings at 10:45. While surging storm waters deluged a house not 20 feet away and 18 inches higher, not a drop crossed the threshold of Jenkins? church.
'A miracle, that's for sure'
?It?s a miracle, that?s for sure,? says Jenkins during an interview in the church sanctuary that was in the final stages of an extensive renovation project just before the storm struck. The church?s new pews, flawless carpet and stained-glass windows in a violet, pink, purple and amethyst color scheme, are as sharp as Jenkins himself, dressed in slacks and a black Promise Keepers polo shirt.
Since the storm hit, Jenkins? church has been spreading its good fortune both within the congregation and without.
For starters, ?We?ve opened up the church to other churches of all denominations so they could worship if they lost their place.? Several congregations have accepted, sending both worshipers to Jenkins? pews and guest preachers to his pulpit. Others, he?s sad to say, have not.
That sharing aligns neatly with Jenkins? top goal when he began preaching in Bay St. Louis five years ago: ?breaking down some of the barriers? that he says keep the vast majority of Southern churches self-segregated along racial lines.
The church, which asks members to tithe 10 percent and has been the beneficiary of many out-of-town donors, has been able to spread financial fortune as well. In addition to helping its own worshipers ? some of whom lost everything to Katrina ? with money and supplies, First Missionary Baptist is helping strangers.
Jenkins used his sermon last Sunday to tell parishioners who survived Katrina that ?God done spared you for a reason. ...You didn?t escape the storm because you were smart and evacuated? or because ?God said, ?You?re just too good to kill.??
No, Jenkins said, there are only two reasons he can see that folks were spared: to become saved as Christians and to help save others: ?It?s high time we get about our father?s business.?
Bibles and gift cards
And so at the end of Sunday?s service, he passed out 40 Bibles and 40 envelopes containing gift cards good at local retail outlets. His instructions were stem: ?These gifts arc not for your best friends. They are not for your family members.? They were for neighbors and others in the community who look to need a boost in their own faith.
Jenkins, an advertising man in his day job, enclosed a letter with the gift cards explaining the church?s mission to recruit Christian disciples: ?To prove God?s love for you, we have enclosed a $50 Wal-Mart/Sam?s Club gift card and a Holy Bible to help you in your restoration and your revival.?
In the religious community itself, there is no shortage of a need for restoration and revival. Nobody can give exact numbers, but Jeffrey Reed, pastor of Power House of Deliverance Ministries and Bay St. Louis? councilman for Ward 3, estimates that 65 percent of the area?s churches, including his own, suffered ?major damage.?
?We got 13 feet of water inside the church buildings,? he says, including the sanctuary, family life center and restoration house. The latter, a 3,000-square foot building where couples and families were counseled, ?has to be totally demolished.? In all, Reed figures the damage at close to $800,000. The church?s insurance, not a flood policy, will pay nothing.
Services continue at gutted sanctuary
Be that as it may, Reed says, the gutted sanctuary at 1278 Washington St. is open for business Sunday mornings at 9:30, fitted out with folding chairs and drawing as many as 125 worshipers from its membership of 250.
?We have a lot of hope,? Reed says. ?We can either be victims of this destructive storm or we can maximize the moment. We have chosen to maximize the moment.?