CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — James Welch and Amy Bradley-Welch are quite the adventurous couple. Newlyweds, they graduated in 2006 from a small, rural Baptist college and immediately headed to the raucous, easy-living city on the bayou: New Orleans.
Now the Campbellsville University grads are making inroads with artists and local churches in the Big Easy. It is something they never expected while at the Kentucky Baptist Convention-affiliated school.
“Amy was always this quiet type with a passion for social issues,” Welch said. “We had talked of possibly moving to Vancouver, Canada, [but] then one day near graduation … I sensed God say, 'Go to New Orleans.'”
It was a challenge to transition from the 2,300-student college south of Lexington, Ky., to a much larger city in the Deep South. Friends and family were supportive, but aid workers in New Orleans were surprised the couple would move to the city still struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina, Welch said.
“At first, [their] reactions were, 'You want to move here? Are you nuts?'” he said.
For the couple, New Orleans was indeed “a crazy place.” When they first arrived, they often got lost because of missing road signs wiped out by Katrina. In other areas, residents had to be off the streets by dark, and National Guardsmen patrolled the neighborhoods.
Welch said he sometimes feared the unsafe conditions, but he also realized the city had potential.
“I think our hearts just broke for this great city and its people,” he said, adding that he “fell in love” with the area known as Uptown. “It was this eclectic and diverse neighborhood,” he said. “It had received minimum flooding and would be a great base to help rebuild the city.”
Other parts of the city didn't fare so well — more than 80 percent of New Orleans flooded. So the couple immediately started contacting local Baptists, non-profit groups and other faith communities to find out how they could help.
They ended up starting a center for artists, musicians, engineers, painters and contractors.
The center, called Convergence, will help “redeem the arts,” Welch said, and act as a forum for social issues like equality, education, sustainability, social justice and the environment.
The center already has hosted live musicians and plans to open a gallery for a local artist later this spring. Meanwhile, each Friday center participants gut and rebuild houses.
It has made an impression on local Baptists.
“They seemed to have become used to people coming for a few days to help, but no one wanted to move their families there,” he said. “I believe they thought the destruction, hot days, crime and craziness would run anyone out. But since we … poured ourselves into the city, people are now saying, ‘Thank you. We're so glad you're here.'”
And all different kinds of people have started to invite them into their lives, Welch added. In return, “we're in love with them and the city.”
“Here in the midst of the greatest natural disaster to ever hit American shores, you can always hear music and smell the best food on the planet,” he said.
-30-