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 [presently there are 170 on the roll] to worship here,” Pastor E.J. Scott said. “During the month of May, it rained three out of the four Sundays. I tried to rush through the service so we wouldn’t be caught in the rain. The medical center’s small porch just isn’t big enough for everyone, so a couple of times we haven’t been able to have services.”
A block away is the BW Cooper Apartments where three of four rival gangs wage a deadly struggle for supremacy of the projects and the area. Drugs are sold freely; murders are commonplace, and unemployment is rampant throughout the neighborhood.
“I do need to get these people in out of the weather,” Scott said. “Yet, as desperate as our need is for a building, it is not just about building a church, but changing a community. God has laid it upon my heart that I need to be here and I need to do something to help change these people’s lives.”
Like many others, Scott and his family were among those to evacuate New Orleans. At the time of the evacuation, he led four New Orleans-based ministries – Shiloh Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, Shiloh Christian Fellowship Economic Development Foundation, the “Bread of Life Baptist Mission,” and Spreading the Gospel Around the World Ministries/E.J. Scott Ministries, L.L.C. All were lost and he and his family ended up in Lancaster, Texas.
“A couple of days after we arrived, God told me I needed to start a church,” Scott said. “I asked him where, and he said right where I was.”
With the help of LBC Evangelism Director Wayne Jenkins, Scott got in contact with Dallas Baptist Association Director of Church Planting/Development Roosevelt Broach, Jr., who said Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Dallas was looking for a pastor from New Orleans to help.
On Oct. 2, 2005, Scott led The Temple of New Life Baptist Church’s first service. There were just 14 people. The church would grow and soon had a north (Dallas) and a south location (Houston Elementary School in Lancaster). Scott, eventually, decided to concentrate on growing the north location, which was prospering.
However, three years after evacuating New Orleans, Scott watched helplessly as Hurricanes Gustav’s and Ike’s 1-2 punch sent Louisiana’s Gulf Coast reeling again. On a trip back to New Orleans, he saw too much blight and devastation even after three years.
“I felt God wanted me to come back and help rebuild New Orleans,” Scott said. “On the third anniversary of The Temple of New Life Baptist Church, I shared with the church that God was calling me back to New Orleans.”
Forty-four days later, the Temple of New Life Baptist Church of New Orleans held its first service in the Crescent City. It was held in Scott’s living room and there were 12 people in attendance.
“It was very much a step of faith,” Scott said. “I talked it over with Denean, my wife, and I told her that God commissioned me to go further and reach more people for Jesus. I did a lot of praying, and fasting. And we both came to the realization that this was what God’s plan was for us. It was evident the city needed our help.”
Eventually, with the help and support of Jenkins, Freddie Arnold, former church planter for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, and David Crosby, pastor of First New Orleans, Scott eventually moved services to the fellowship hall at First New Orleans.
“Brother David [David Crosby] was gracious enough to let us hold services in their fellowship hall at 8 a.m.,” Scott said. “We went from 12 to 15 to 25 people before the bottom fell out, and we got down to just three people – myself, Denean and one other.
“I was puzzled and turned to both Freddie and Wayne,” Scott said. “And they told me that maybe this wasn’t where God wanted me. They said they had held a recent block party in the Taylor Park area, and the needs there were great.”
Scott went looking for a suitable place to hold services, but there were none. All he found was blighted buildings with weeds growing up around them. He finally happened upon a boarded up building – a former clinic — on the corner of Jackson Avenue and South Galvez Street. It would take him several months of searching before he was finally able to locate the owner of the building – Dr. John Angelo. Angelo had moved his practice to the Northshore.
“I asked if he would allow us to meet outside if we cleaned and kept up the property. He agreed,” Scott said.
Scott got a missions team to help clean up the lot and began holding services there on Wednesday and Sunday. He is in negotiations with Angelo to purchase the building and the property, but the price tag — $140,000 – is high.
“Every Wednesday, we have ‘Feeding the Community’ at 6 p.m. at Taylor Park followed by a bible study. First New Orleans provides the food, I preach, and volunteers from First New Orleans along with members of Temple serve and work together. On Sundays my members provide, prepare and serve a meal after worship. Anyone that needs a hot meal can come and eat a nutritious meal,” Scott said. “We do this through donations and volunteers.”
Scott, though, wants to do even more. He is reaching out to those in the community.
“It’s not easy getting people to come out and carry on a conversation. This is not safe part of town. Just about a month ago, three people were murdered. The word on the street is it was gang-related and had to do with drugs,” Scott said.
“There are three gangs in the BW Cooper Housing Projects and another one two blocks away,” Scott said now meeting in Taylor Park. “Am I scared? Yes, I am. I am afraid for my wife, the members of my church, the brothers and sisters in this neighborhood. Yes, I’m scared, but I rely on my faith in God strengthen me so I can make it through.
“I firmly believe – without a shadow of a doubt – this is where I am supposed to be,” Scott said. “God has placed me here to combat the hopeleness, the darkness, and the satanic forces that are at work here. I want everyone of them to know there is hope, and it is through Jesus Christ. I tell them that when I was a youngster I was doing the same things they were doing. And the things they are doing will only lead to death or prison.
“It was by the grace of God that I was saved,” Scott said, “and it will be by the grace of God they will also be saved,”
Scott’s frankness, bold message, and willingness to invest in the community is starting to help him gain in roads in the community. He has already led one of the gang leaders to Christ, and is attempting to reach the other gangs.
“I am trying to build a relationship with them which isn’t easy because they trust no one,” Scott said. “It takes time to build a rapport with them. I want to stop the murder. I want to stop the sale of drugs. They ask me if I take the drugs out of their hands, how are they are going to live? How are they going to feed their families?”
Scott and his wife, who want to start an adult literacy program, have met several times with Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s director of the prison re-entry program to discuss how they can partner together to stop recidivism.
“He is putting together a program very similar to the one we envision,” Scott said. “He told us we can use the exact same one to help these young people in the gangs.”
Scott is also developing a job training program and is seeking businesses that would employ those completing the program. His long-range goal is to develop a comprehensive program that will help meet the needs of the entire community.
Scott also wants to build a multi-purpose facility to attract the community. He envisions of one day building a youth center which will be structured to help the youth improve their skills – spiritually and academically. He also wants the facility to be able to serve the elderly as well.
“My prayer is we can one day build a nice, multi-purpose facility. Not just a sanctuary, but a place where we can also have discipleship training, tutoring, job training, and employment services. I want the facility to be a place of hope and new beginning for the community. It could literally be the catalyst to help change this community.
“If we can’t get this piece of property from Dr. Angelo, then some other,” Scott said. “God will provide in his time, not mine.”
However, after almost a year of negotiations, though, Scott, who is totally convinced God is in control of the entire situation, would like to see a little more progress being made.
“I believe God supernaturally takes people, washes them in His blood, equips them and sends them right back to the same environment they came from to show others there is hope,” Scott said. “Could it be I’ve been prepared for this day? Absolutely. And there is nothing that is going to stop me from seeing this project to its end.”
Anyone wishing to help Scott with his efforts can call him at 504.460.4723 or go to his websitewww.ejscottministries.com.