03/28/06 :: Rebuilding continues in New Orleans
New Orleans, LA >> It’s been several months since Hurricane Katrina crashed through this city, flooding Lakeview Christian Center’s church building and seriously damaging many members’ homes. What does it look like for a church to rebuild? Erik Schmaltz (on staff at Lakeview) and his wife, Erin, sent us this update.
Hey everyone!
We wanted to just share an update of what’s been going on at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans. We have been witnesses and recipients of much grace from our God during these past now seven months! He has been so faithful!
We want to first thank all the teams of men and women of Sovereign Grace Churches for taking time out of their schedules and money out of their bank accounts to come serve our church while we were (and are) in a time of great need. Every one of them truly served so excellently, and brought hope and blessing to so many families in our church. Through the thirteen weeks of groups that came in, more than 150 people from churches around the country were able to work on more than 60 of our church members’ and their extended families’ houses. Thank you so much for being God’s grace to us!
The church is still in the process of making a decision about where to rebuild and how to go about doing that. But we should be moving in a direction soon. The Lord is moving in mighty ways. Since the storm, the church has been able to purchase the two-storey building on property next to our existing church building. We are still petitioning the Lord to move in a way that would allow us to have ample parking for the church. The state has still not made a decision on what they will do with their property across the street from us, so we still do not know if the use of their parking lot will be an option for us. But we continue as a church to ask the Lord to provide a way. We just finished a series entitled “The Malachi Challenge,” which has been so timely. We’ve been reminded by our leaders to be people who are fasting, giving, and above all else, praying! We’ve received much grace from God the past month or so in this way. He’s been so kind to remind us of the importance of prayer in our lives and in his economy.
Speaking of, we as a church have been praying for a while now for the Lord to begin to reveal some portion of his will for the rebuilding of our church. Some of you know that we were using the parking lot of that state property as our own parking lot during the times our church met. (We actually own only about ten parking spaces.) The state had indicated to us that they weren’t sure of their plans for the property yet, except that they would definitely be keeping that communication tower on the property in service. A recent tornado knocked down the communication tower, though, and we’re not sure what the state’s plans are. But God is building faith in our hearts that he is the sovereign and all-powerful God who controls all things and who answers to no one but himself! We’ll see what happens! We are receiving more and more favor from the state each day. Please be praying that this continues.
We are currently meeting at First Baptist Church of Kenner on Saturday mornings, and are able to have one service instead of the two we were having before the storm. Before the storm we had about 650 people attending on Sunday mornings. Now, on Saturdays we are up to around 400–450 in attendance. There are many people in the church that are still required to work on Saturdays and are unable to attend church.
In two weeks, we will be (as one of our pastors said) “picking up the tent pegs once again” and moving the congregation to First Assembly in Metairie. This will probably be our new home for a while. The staff there, as at the other churches we have benefited from, has bent over backwards to accommodate us. We will still be meeting on Saturdays, at least for a while. But First Assembly’s facility will enable us to do youth meetings, Alpha classes, college ministry stuff, and special events. This is the fourth church building that we have met in since Katrina! What grace the Lord has shown us through the body of Christ in our city!
We also wanted to update you on some of the people that you guys met and even lived with. Kevin McGarry is still working for the church and cleaning the First Baptist church building while we are meeting there. He continues to be a great servant to the church, doing anything that’s needed. Todd Tucker, who put his business on hold for a few months in order to serve the church by working every day with group after group on our church members’ houses, is now working again at refinishing and staining doors. Ms. Linda Rockefeller, Erin’s mom and the owner of the house the Sovereign Grace teams stayed in, is now home and working again at a new printing company in the city. Her father just passed away a few days ago, but she has found her strength in Christ and is doing well. Ryan and Chrissy Rockefeller, Erin’s brother and sister-in-law, have since moved back into Ms. Linda’s house from Houston and have a baby due on March 15. Obviously Grandma Linda is excited about that! The Rockefeller Plaza, as Pete called it (Ms. Linda’s House), will be teeming with life again soon!
We (Erik and Erin) have been living in our apartment now since the beginning of December. It was strange to adjust to life with two people again. (Dinner for two—instead of 23—stands out the most in my mind!) But we have enjoyed our time growing together since then. We are also thankful for the many things the Lord is doing in the church that we have the privilege to be a part of.
Erik is now working on staff full-time at the church office, which is currently in the back of pastor Keith Collins’ house. Though it’s small, it is working out great as an office. Erik’s functioning as an administrative assistant. Erin is currently not working, but has been busy taking care of our apartment and helping with different things in the church. After the groups were done coming in, she was offered a full-time job that would have been great, but as we prayed and talked through it, we did not feel like the Lord wanted us to go back to both working full-time jobs. She felt like she couldn’t effectively make Erik her priority and serve him best if she was working full-time. So we took the step of faith to trust God, and the Lord has blessed us so much. As we have been faithful to tithe, the Lord has taken care of our every need and much more.
Also, Erik was able to surprise Erin with a trip to Orlando (Disney World and Universal Studios included)—with many thanks due to so many of the men and women who came down to serve our church and their kind gifts to us while they were down here. We had a great time together, and were so blessed by our friends at Metro Life Church. It was great to visit Metro on Sunday morning and see again some of the men who served our church family!
This sentence didn’t really fit anywhere else, but we wanted to share it with you guys anyway. As our college-aged "Pivot" ministry is now back up and running, we are beginning new small groups. The small groups are for the purpose of deepening the friendships in The Pivot, providing accountability, etc. Much to our delight, this weekend we (Erik and Erin) led our first group meeting at our house. We are very excited to be able to serve the folks in our church in this way! If you’d like, you can check out the ministry’s website at www.thepivotministry.com.
While this update is long, we hope it has not only provided information about our church and how we are doing down here in New Orleans. We hope that the Lord has encouraged you through the way that he is being so faithful to us down here in Louisiana. We hope you know how much all of you in the Sovereign Grace family of churches have meant to our church. We will never forget the work you did and the sacrifices you made to help a church that you previously had no connection with. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Grace and blessings to you,
Erik & Erin Schmaltz and the folks at Lakeview Christian Center
Photos
Top two photos: Lakeview Christian Center meeting at First Baptist Church in Kenner, Louisiana
Middle: Erik and Erin Schmaltz at Universal Studios
Bottom two photos: Lakeview's new church office (in pastor Keith Collins' backyard)