"The Work Isn't Finished!"

Several months ago I (Greg) was asked to co-lead a spring break mission trip for some students from Philadelphia Biblical University. The seven of us just returned from Slidell, Louisiana, where we served for a week. Though staying at Faith Bible Church in Slidell, we made the short commute into New Orleans every day to work.

“The work isn’t finished!” This was the message from the church pastor and all the volunteer work coordinators who have made Slidell their home since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region in August 2005. We spent most of our week laying floors (hardwood and tile), hanging and mudding drywall, and texturing walls in a house in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. This house was about 200 yards from one of the sections where the levee broke. The result was that most of the houses were picked up off their foundations and carried away by 15 feet of water! We spent part of a day handing out bags of food in Tent City, a homeless “village” under the I-10 overpass in downtown New Orleans. Many of the men we met became homeless because of the hurricane, and have never recovered.

If you or your church are interested in taking a team into the Slidell/New Orleans region, I highly recommend looking up Faith Bible Church in Slidell—they have a highly organized operation going and have already hosted almost 4,000 workers since the hurricane.