By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS – The heat is oppressive. Shade is sparse and the occasional cloud provides just a brief reprieve from the sun beating down unmercifully on those gathered in the parking lot around a storm-ravaged building. Nearby vegetation is slowly swallowing pieces of property on which homes, boarded up and still bearing the fading markings left by search and rescue teams, sit empty nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding that caused so much devastation. The neighborhood is crime-ridden, impoverished, and rundown. Hopelessness and desperation are prevalent. [img_assist|nid=6541|title=The congregation of New Life Temple Baptist Church meets in the parking lot of a boarded-up medical center.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]For more than a year, the congregation of Temple of New Life Baptist Church has used the parking lot of a boarded-up medical center to meet for Sunday worship services. They have faithfully endured the weather – cold in the winter, heat in the summer, and rain throughout. Yet, through it all, the congregation endures, and have faithfully come week in and week out. “Nobody but God has been able to bring these people … [Read more...]
Native American ministry benefits state churches
By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor FOREST HILL – The momentum for ministry on reservation lands has spread to at least 36 states plus Canada, and churches across Louisiana continue to reap benefits from their involvement last fall in simultaneous revivals in Native American Christian churches across New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. Last October is when 44 teams – all but two from Louisiana – participated in what New Mexico leaders wanted to be more than a one-time event. As a part of the revival thrust, the leaders wanted churches willing to make multi-year partnerships with Native American Christian churches and communities. “That’s happening,” said Randy Carruth of Forest Hill, La., a former electrician sidelined by injury who became a fulltime missions volunteer and catalyst for this ministry to Native Americans. “Most of these churches have gone back at least once; God is using it [people’s willingness to get involved in ministry to Native Americans] to do some mighty things.” The interest in reaching out to the people who live on the more than 310 reservations in the United States, and more than 600 reserves in Canada was sparked by the prayer of an elderly Navajo woman. “My prayer is that our Lord and … [Read more...]
The Counseling Connection
By Michele Louviere, Director of Counselling Celebration Church, Metairie Question: I struggle in relationships, mostly in the area of feeling close to people that I should feel close to, like my husband. What is wrong with me? Michele Louviere responds: It sounds like you may have an attachment disorder. God created children to develop healthy attachment when they are babies. For example, babies will go over to mom and/or dad when a stranger comes in a room, and will cry if mom or dad leaves. This shows that the child has formed an attachment with mom and/or dad, or even another care giver. Learning how to feel safe and secure with other people is attachment. Unfortunately, some children grow up in families where they may not develop healthy attachments. Maybe mom and/or dad are going through a difficult time, such as a relational, financial or life crisis, and they are just not as attentive to the child as they normally would be, so they become emotionally unavailable. In this type of situation, the child can grow up and struggle with either anxious-ambivalent or anxious-avoidant attachment styles. The child will grow into an adult that either is ambivalent about relationships or tries to avoid them. Relationships do … [Read more...]
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