MNA Camera guy....

Thanks to David who did a great job filming the video for MNA! Thanks to Curt for helping us remember his name!

Progress...Progress...Progress

This week saw unreal progress on the new Lagniappe Church facility. We signed the lease one week ago today and the pictures show unreal progress. Thanks to friends from Cullman, AL and Brookhaven, MS who worked this weekend helping clear debris and cleaning up. Special thanks have to go to Jordan who has been the foreman of all debris clearing! Great Job Jordy!

Reflection

From the bulletin at First Pres. Biloxi. Silent Reflection. "O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?"William Shakespeare He (Jesus) said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you will be exposed. You can't hide behind a reliegious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the days are coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town."Luke 12:1b-3 (Eugene Peterson's The Message)

Lagniappe Regency Resort & Spa

It has been a busy week. Andy, Arklie, Jocie, and Curt were in Atlanta for meetings with MNA Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone returned home except Arklie who brought a videographer to Bay St. Louis. We met at the Lagniappe office and drove to New Orleans, interviewing Ray Canata of Redeemer as well as staff from Desire Street. While we were away Jordan and Conrad coordinated several relief teams with the rehabing of our new property. Jean met with the Memphis Presbytery of the EPC and is returning for his interview tomorrow (Saturday). The groups in house this weekend are Yazoo City, Christ Pres of Birmingham, New City Fellowship (Chattanooga), Faith Pres. Brookhaven, and a Rotary group from Pennsylvania. The groups are concentrating on wiring homes, roofing Troy and Kelly's, and getting our property ready for June 1. Did I mention that full capacity at the Lagniappe Regency Resort and Spa (LRRS) will be 200. At the Regency you will be greeted by valet parkers who will pamper your car while the bellmen escort you into our plush bunk house where you will enjoy lavish amenities, including concierge service and private lounge serving Continental Breakfast, evening cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Spanish-inspired top-floor accommodations pamper you with one king or two queen beds, deluxe Portico bath amenities, plush robes, daily newspaper, high-speed Internet access, and a step-out balcony offering magnificent ocean, pool, or island views. There's plenty to keep you occupied while visiting us. Whether you're an exercise enthusiast, a shopping buff, or a relaxation addict, we've got just the right activity for you and your family. Oh sorry, that was from the Hyatt Regency Aruba. Well things are similar. We have beds, food, and lots of activities to keep you busy. Let us pamper you!

End of a long week

Well, it's almost officially done. We have a contract on a house in Waveland. I'm pretty happy with it, and the final numbers etc. We are going to be finally moving... No more commuting every week. This week has just about worn me out with the travel to the bay, flights to Atlanta and back and tomorrow morning I'll leave Biloxi / Gulfport / The Bay and get back home (I'm not 100% sure where I'll sleep tonight. I've missed out this week Kate has started crawling. I hope Cammie can blog some footage soon. But I'll be seeing it with my own two eyes.

You have new Picture Mail!

Visiting with the Biggs in Jackson on the way to Memphis!

On the road again...soon

Today has been unreal so far. The plans for our building rehab have been 'stamped'- that means approved for all of you PCA ministers out there who aren't contractors on the side. The power pole has been put up. The water is slated to be turned on. Jordan has done an unreal job of clearing the lot. Two men from the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church) have come to town seen the Larroux Katrina tour and are excited about teams coming in to work with us (thanks for the contact Jocie!). We have had a call about trucks. I am trying to get panels for 4 bunkhouses donated. Packing to go to the EPC presbytery meeting in Memphis tomorrow and will be back in Bay St. Louis Saturday morning to meet with Arklie Hooten. Pray for me as I travel today and late Friday, early Saturday morning. Keep Andy, Curt and Jocie in your prayers as well. As you can see from Andy's blog they are fish out of water in a conference room. They would probably feel more at home in the hotel parking lot next to the grease trap or discarded boxes- it would feel more like the Bay.

Ahh meetings....

We are meeting about MNA stuff.... talking about blogs... I figured we'd make a new post. That's Fred Marsh in the background. Tater graces the forground on the laptop.

A day is like a thousand years...

I spent a good portion of this evening talking to a friend who I have not spoken to in almost 5 years. We last spoke when her young son was diagnosed with a hearing problem and ulimately deafness. She has lived what many would understand to be the life of 'Job'. It was inspirational and concurrently heartbreaking to hear her story. I tried to call her almost a year and a half ago after she lost her second child at 36 weeks, that was preceeded by her husband's job loss 3 weeks earlier. She mentioned that while I had tried to contact her she didn't have anything 'to give' to anyone and never replied. I understand. She found Lagniappe on the web and called this week to catch up. There was something of a kindred understanding in talking to her now- seeing pain, suffering, loss, brokeness with NO end in sight. To talk with someone who lives with the real tangible loss on a day to day basis was like talking to someone who has lived through/is living through their own personal Katrina. As we spoke I related so easily to her 'longing for heaven.' To hear her comments was redemptive. The old footprints poem came to mind, but in a much different way. Here was a woman who never saw 'two' sets of footprints, as far as she could see she could see only one. Jesus carries her ALWAYS. She and I laughed alot and marvelled at God's 'sense of humor'. She said, "I don't know why God entrusted these things to me- He should have picked someone more together...I was weak before all of this...I wasn't the one who was equipped to 'handle' all of this." She added, "but I always say 'entrusted' because that's how I see it- it is something He has given to me, for me, for good- a good I cannot see right now- sometimes it's hard even to brush my teeth." So real. So honest. So human. So beautifully weak. As we chatted I asked for her prayers for me personally. She assured me she would be praying. I asked this 'Jobish' friend if she had any advice. She said, "Just wake up and push your butt through the day and have alot of people praying." Solid advice. There is something powerful about suffering isn't there? It is a profound teacher, but not a profound 'answer giver'. It is like that favorite teacher who never TOLD you the answer, but always got you to delve into deeper questions. Longing for the anwser is a cruel exercise in futility. Longing for Him is better. Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Blessed indeed, but often that blessing is wrapped in messy knots which, in this life, have no ends.

Vatican City Here We Come

As you know Atlanta is the headquarters for the PCA. Andy and I (Curt) are flying to Atlanta today. Pray for our safety. We have meetings tomorrow to discuss the PCA's response to disaster weather it be hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes,etc...

Fantastic new relief website...

Have you ever wondered what to wear on a mission relief trip? Katrina designer JORDY Sikkema takes his exhaustive fashion experience and helps you accessorize. What do you wear for drywall in the morning and then an afternoon of house gutting? JORDY knows. How 'bout a roofing job in a mild afternoon breeze? JORDY knows. For those really tough decisions like a trip out to Sonic, ask JORDY. You never know when you might bump into a FEMA official and you want to look and feel your best. JORDY.com- for the relief worker in you. (p.s. this is just a little fun for the LPC gang...)

I'm your Huckleberry

There are many things seen here in this picture that speak to what goes on with the Lagniappe Church folks. First and foremost I would like ya'll to observe the window in the background, dark thus it is late and Andy, the focal point of this picture for more reasons than one, is still working as normal. Jean is off to the side jumping from one task to another keeping us all up until he just disappears to bed. Conrad is also in the room but is not seen, behind the scenes as usual. As I write this blog I'm asking Conrad of all the organizations that he has guided and funded and helped and given direction to. We are one the many organizations that are blessed to have his help. Often being there but not pictured or behind the scenes as you might say, Conrad has been directly invovled in getting millions of dollars of aid to those who truly need it. Moving back into the picture you may notice a bright orange level looking thing-a-ma-jig. This is a pitch-finder, a great tool that Craig McCallister created to measure the pitch of a roof; simply place and read rather than measure this and that and do that math. Check his time saving device out at pitchfinder.net. Getting back on the point this is just one of many signs of the help that we have recieved from many different people. Craig is a designer who did all of the blueprints for the reconstruction of our building and set our buildings up to code, and did it for a fraction of the cost while working into the wee hours of the night. Four more quick points. 1. Also noticeable is the clutter on the table. Yes, this place is not clean, there are no women here at this time. Andy misses his wife Cammie and daugther Tater, Conrad is missing Melissa and his family in North Carolina, Jean's family is still in Memphis anticipating their move, and I, well I feel right at home in the mess after living with guys in apartments for the past five years. 2. If you would notice the projector in the corner of the picture that is often used for presentations but at this moment is helping us relax by showing an episode of "The Office." Work and play is all intertwined down here, its all a good time. 3. Can you also see the carpet, we finally have carpet, its the small things that you learn to appreciate down here. 4. Finally, everyone please notice Andy's great pj pants. This is the whole reason I blogged, just to post a picture of Andy in his cowboy pants. Ain't they adorable. Please come down and be a part of all that goes on down here, pictures are worth a thousand words and sorry this blog is about that long, but its hard not to get carried away talking about all that the Lord is doing. O, and come see Andy in his giddy up gear.

The Men of LPC on a skid steer

Curtis "Chainsaw" MooreAndy "the Ax man" Chapman

Jean "Let 'er rip" Larroux

Conrad "I actually know what I'm doing though my face doesn't show it" Velasco Jordan "Jordy" Sikkema Today may have to go down in the history of LPC as one of the best 'guy' days ever. Jordan, Conrad, Jean, Andy and Curt all knocked off of work around 5:30 p.m. and headed to the new property for a little 'therapy' i.e. using a RSV50 skid steer to tear down sheet metal and wooden debris from the property. They say that you never see a motorcycle parked outside of a psychologist's office...we will tell you definitively- you will see 10 motorcycles before you ever see a skid steer...How do you spell 't-h-e-r-a-p-y"? S-K-I-D S-T-E-E-R.

Lagniappe Church has a building!

Lagniappe Presbyterian Church now has a home! Today we enacted a lease on a 2.5 acre property in Bay St. Louis. It includes an 11,000 square foot building that will house showers, a kitchen and worship facilities- it is very exciting! We'll post more photos of the building later. Click here for more information at the LPC website. Please consider coming to help rehab the facility in the month of May- we need all the help we can get because we are going to be hosting upwards of 200 people per day in the summer. Thanks to everyone who has been praying. Special thanks to the Morreale family who are pictured above. They were unbelievably generous to LPC and truly made this possible. (left to right) Jerry Garriga, Patricia Morreale Garriga, Martin Morreale, Angelina C. Morreale and Jacob Morreale.

Nashville Relief Team

Special thanks to Christ Presbyterian in Nashville, Tennessee led by Bill Scott (the young guy on the far right, not the good looking one on the far left....) who spent a great couple of days with us working with one family in Waveland, Ms. They have 'adopted' Cecile and are helping to make sure that she has all she needs from the cleaning out of the home, to the roofing, sheetrock and electrical. What a great witness and model of ministry.

Living Water...

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a load voice, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37 Last week I was in Bay St. Louis with several of the teams assisting those flattened out by the hurricanes. You would think that the folks that live in the region run over by Katrina have had enough water for now. They haven’t. They are thirstier now than ever, but in a way that they didn’t realize before. You see, the folks here have seen with their own eyes, felt with their own hands and tasted with their own mouths, the goodness of a compassionate and caring Body of Christ. I am most often asked, ”how long is it going to take” or “how is the recovery going, are you seeing any progress”? Let me say this, If the recovery were finished tomorrow, we would miss many opportunities to advance the Gospel. We have before us a work that we should be thanking God for providing. Open access to hurting people has been unparalleled in North America. Almost everyone we help wants to tell us their story, and we are given this great opportunity to tell ours. Oh God!, please let the recovery take a long time! For those you read this Blog, I thank God for your partnership in this ministry. To date MNA has mobilized around seven thousand volunteers that have given significant time, talent and treasure from Moss Point to Baton Rouge. By sending Jocie, Curt and Me (the MNA team partnering with Lagniappe) on your behalf, you are helping supply Living Water to those who are thirsty and have been waiting on someone to show them how to get the Eternal Thirst Quencher. More water Please! Your Servant in Christ, Arklie Hooten MNA ShortTerm Director

The Restoration behind the relief work...

Feeling a bit nostalgic and contemplative this evening...Why a church? Why relief work? Why do what we do? When faced with endless debris, needs, work orders and families it is tempting to think of the futility of even a large effort, though ours is small. When considering the scope of the need there are indeed others more skilled, more able and more prepared. So why is the church doing relief work? Very simple: behind the broken down walls and Katrina soaked sheetrock there are broken lives. Though the church may be inexperienced at construction we are experienced in destruction. We are a mess. We walked into the kingdom, more aptly we 'washed up' into the kingdom just like the debris of Katrina. There is a beachcombing God (NOTE: I preached a message in 2003 by this title "Beachcombing God" which is still available on the IPC Memphis website. This link will take you there: http://www.indepres.org/templates/cusindpres/details.asp?id=30618&PID=277387 The series is on the Prodgial Sons of Luke 15- the 'beachcombing God' was the first in the series) who sits on the throne of heaven taking home the washed up, broken down and sin soaked to make them His own. There is nothing original about 'relief work' it is an idea borne in the mind of God pre-Genesis. The woodcut above was done by dear friend, Carl Fox- the Reformation phrase "Simul Iustus et Peccator" means "SIMULTANEOUSLY JUSTIFIED and SINFUL"- Larrouxified that means "washed up and loved!" How profound! Washed up and Loved- NOT washed up and cleaned up, NOT injured and rehabilitated, NOT broken but better- Washed up AND Loved AT THE SAME TIME- simultaneously! We are washed up people combing the beaches with God himself looking for other washed up people because there is a God who sits on the throne of the universe who does Relief work. Washed up AND loved, Jean. Isaiah 54:5

He's Baaaaaaaaaaack

Jordan Sikkema, coordinator, team leader, man of mystery. He's known by so many titles yet to us he's simply our little Jordy. Don't know what we'd do without him. Welcome back Jordan!

Prayer Request for Lease

Urgent Prayer Request: We need your prayers for the completion of a lease that we are working on. The building will be the site of our relief work and worship. We are very close, but need to get this completed and get work started so that we can get housing for teams, and a place to meet for Sunday Morning services. Pray that God will speed this process along.If you would like to sign up to be a prayer partner with the ministry, please click here. We are also praying for:

• Additional interns
• General Contractor help in May with remodeling
• Pastors who will come and do pastoral care/follow-up with families

On another Coast...

I think my blood has thinned- Seattle was freezing by Mississippi standards! But it was great seeing the family and getting away, to a seemingly put-together city in another world. Bay St. Louis seemed like a strange dream looking at the city sky line and feeling the energy of a population accustomed to their lives functioning as planned.

One of the greatest things about Seattle are the book stores and coffee shops, and you get into some of the best conversations in either. A man sitting next to me in a coffee shop noted that I was reading Desiring God, and asked if it was any good. Trying to explain Christian hedonism to him, I watched him nod and say, 'well yeah, I feel the closest to any kind of creator when I'm skiing. The mountains are my temple.' Smiling, I agreed that the beauty of creation does point to our creator. But the conversation left me wondering what a hurricane, or more plausibly, an earthquake would do for Seattle. I have to trust that God is building His kingdom and working in the hearts of men, with natural disasters or quiet conversations. They both can convict; the Holy Spirit doesn't need the aid of broken homes to make men vulnerable enough to listen. Lord, make me vulnerable enough to listen. ~Isaiah 62:4