News at ABWE
Initial Report from Project Help the Shepherds
September 28, 2005
ABWE is providing assistance for Faith Bible Church, located 20 miles NE of New Orleans on the opposite side of Lake Pontchartrain near Interstate 10. Here is the latest update from the church dated September 24.
"Faith Bible Church is in the midst of rebuilding our church family, our church building and our community. In our church of 65 families, seven families are unable to return home because it was either totally destroyed or damaged by the storm. Nine families are temporarily displaced because of significant damage, mostly flooding. Thirteen other homes were damaged but are livable. All the other families had trees or limbs down in their yard. Some people are unable to return home because they needed to relocate with their job. The church building had two feet of water and has been gutted. It is serving as a command center for our Katrina Relief Team. The former nursery is now a tool room!
As you can imagine the rebuilding process is going to be long. In order to rebuild the buildings there is a lot of clean up that needs to be done first. We are thinking "short-term" at the moment. Long-term plans are still up in the air. God is doing amazing things in Slidell, particularly at Faith Bible Church. He is faithful, and He provides!”
ABWE has sent an initial check to Faith Bible Church from “Project Help the Shepherds” to help with rebuilding. Other churches are under consideration for assistance from this relief fund. If your church would like to partner more directly with any of the churches we are assisting, please contact Norm Nicklas at norm@abwe.org or E.C. Haskell at ech@abwe.org.
ABWE Air USA will be helping air lift evacuees from shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi to homes in the Atlanta area. Pray for the ABWE Air personnel as they have opportunities to share the gospel with people who are going through the traumas of relocating and rebuilding their lives.
Pray for churches in the Katrina/ Rita devastated areas. Some of the churches we have been in contact with who were housing refugees from Katrina were then themselves wiped out with Rita. Pray as we work with these pastors to determine how and when to assist them. Pastors told us yesterday they had not even been able to locate members of their own congregations at this point. They may be without electricity for weeks yet. It is still too early to think of sending in work teams. Right now they are still in survival mode.