NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — In a move that one official termed a “God-sized” task, Southern Baptists have pledged a Herculean effort to rebuild homes and churches destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board, said the organization will partner with the Louisiana Baptist Convention to rebuild 1,000 homes and 20 churches in the New Orleans area. “It is a huge task,” he said.
Operation New Orleans Area Hope Rebuild — an expected $10 million project — is already underway and making a difference in the greater New Orleans area, Burton said. Officials have begun referring to it by a partial acronym: NOAH.
According to Mike Canady, director of missions and ministries for the Louisiana convention, the groups have mobilized 3,500 building volunteers so far. But they anticipate 50,000 volunteers over the next two years.
Administratively speaking, managing this many volunteers would be a full-time job in itself, Burton noted. The organization, processing and managing of the on-site rebuilding efforts mean there must be a team of people dedicated solely to the project, he explained.
“The Louisiana staff is too small,” Burton said. “There has to be some degree of structure on the ground to pull this off. If I don't put infrastructure in place, I don't help the people.”
So far, two people have been hired for the two-year commitment to work on the team, Burton said.
The two, whose names have not yet been released, are a married couple. The husband will serve as the construction coordinator and the wife as the office manager. A project coordinator has not been named, but Burton anticipated it soon.
The project coordinator will work directly with the project's overall steering committee, which is made up of representatives of NAMB, the state convention, area associations and local churches, Canady said. He will be the state denominational liaison on the committee.
He said the damage to churches is at varying levels. “Some have repairs going on now; some are just sitting there with nothing being done because there is no congregation or no pastor.
“We will probably integrate what we are already doing with NOAH,” Canady said.
When it comes to selection of which homes to rebuild, he said the plans are to try to work with neighborhoods that are connected with local Baptist churches. The homeowners will not have to be Baptist, Canady said.
“We will help the people whomever they are,” Burton said. “We want the people of New Orleans to see this…as an effort of Southern Baptists reaching out to their community through local churches.”
Canady said he anticipates using some of the Louisiana convention's disaster-relief funds for this project, but the major source of funding — $5 million — came from NAMB.
“We received about $22 million designated for Katrina,” Burton said. While “a great deal” of the money has already been distributed, he said $5 million was recently earmarked for NOAH.
“The $5 million will be used as seed money for infrastructure, and building materials to manage the project,” he said.
Anticipating a need for an additional $5 million before the project ends, Burton said a volunteer fee will be charged to help offset the cost. “We want the volunteers to have an investment in the project,” he said, noting the fee has not yet been set but will probably be between $20 and $25 per day.
With the fee, volunteers will receive a prepackaged missions experience, Burton explained. A tent city is being built for housing of volunteers, and all meals will be provided.
Tommy Puckett, director of disaster relief for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said chainsaw teams from Alabama are also scheduled to work in the New Orleans area soon. While the teams are finishing up work previously started, he said Alabama Baptists will be “ready and willing” to help in other ways.
“This is going to be another opportunity for our people to serve,” Puckett said. “I think [the NOAH project] is going to be an excellent opportunity for Southern Baptists to help people not only from a physical standpoint but also a spiritual standpoint as well.”
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