Arrival in NOLA - Update from Father Jerry Kramer

Thanks to all of our prayer partners for your vigilance in prayer for this journey and mission. After a 12-hour drive, with stops for photos, gas, bathrooms and meals, and much time to bond and learn about each other while Debi Newman drove, we were met in the Church of the Annunciation parking lot in the Broadmoor District of New Orleans at 9 pm Thusday night. Everyone quickly settled into the upstairs dormitory after prayer and thanksgiving for the journey and for the committed servants that are currently working at the church.

We woke this morning to the smell of coffee, sausage, eggs, and heavenly biscuits!

After a great breakfast, this morning we have had an opportunity to get video of the extensive changes and progress on the property, and also to participate in a moving prayer service, reading from the Benedictine Daily Prayer book, led by Father Jerry Kramer. Now we are all busy preparing for the retreat this afternoon. We are excited and believe the timing couldn't be better - the women of this church and neighborhood especially have the need for this retreat to lift their spirits.

Following the prayer service, Father Kramer gave us time to ask questions and give us a review of the current needs and progress of the church. The parish - and the community - are in a slump right now, with the soldiers weary from the two year battle, enormous medical and mental health needs in the community, and critical lack of adequate living space. Many working people are scrambling at night to find shelter and showers before going to work in the mornings. He said that women are especially vulnerable, without housing and being out on the streets.

Nearly everyone in New Orleans is encountering some level of post traumatic stress disorder, which peaks from 2-5 years after the crisis. Father Kramer said that the easiest time was right after the flood, when everyone was equal, and everyone had nothing. Now that groups are going in different directions, and it is clear there is considerable work and suffering still to go through, it is easy to get a feeling of hopelessness.

Despite the huge needs, human suffering and exhaustion, Father Kramer said that he and his wife Stacy have come to the conclusion that because of Katrina, and because of the church, New Orleans has a chance of renewal, survival and growth that it didn't have before. He told of their work with and studies by the Harvard Kennedy School, where people from the school had convinced him two years ago that the only way to overcome this disaster was an entrepreneurial spirit - "you have to do it yourself" because no money or services would filter down to this level. The result of this research can be downloaded as The Broadmoor Project.

The women of our mission team can see that, largely because of Father Kramer's missionary experience and entrepreneurial leadership, his church responded to the needs of the community, rather than waiting for rescue by the government, or simply trying to restore the church to it's previous condition. The Church of the Annunciation is recognized for leading Broadmoor to be "the comeback neighborhood." Father Kramer emphasized the perspective that we "shouldn't make plans and then ask God to bless them, but instead look around and see what God is doing in our midst and then get on His program."

Broadmoor is now a viable neighborhood because of the church. Father Kramer said that, because of the Church of the Annunciation's work, the Harvard Kennedy School recognizes in their manual on disaster recovery that the church, not government intervention, is the core for community survival. He also provided stories that showed that not just any church can bring recovery. He said the churches in the community that simply restored their buildings are dying. Those that tried to just pull back together, or even consolidate resources to get back to their previous direction are not growing.

Father Kramer said, "Don't sell what the church needs to the neighborhood, find what the neighborhood needs. . . We are now relevant to the community." He said that the church had to, "risk talking to the community, and giving them stakeholder positions."

The Church of the Annunciation has proven that having a missional perspective - that "God's heart is for people in need" - that we must "be available to God" - is not only the way to survival for a church and a community in disaster, but for the church to grow and serve the commission God gave us in the world.

We will be going into the retreat this afternoon about 4 pm through the late night, with women from the community expected to be staying over night here with our women's mission team.

Thank you all for your support and continued prayers for this mission team.