God Is Closer Than You Think @ Carver Desire Baptist Church

http://www.gavinknight.com/2007/12/thank-you-carver-desire-baptist-church.html

A long held dream of mine has been to attend an African-American church service, and this came true for me during my trip to New Orleans last month when Mike (Brantley, brother-in-law) took Chad, Mike (Zook) and I to Carver Desire Baptist Church for their 10am Sunday service.

The service was everything I had imagined in terms of the 'theatre' of it all. But, more importantly, it was also a genuine experience of celebrating God with rich worship, deep teaching and meaningful prayer - all set in a context of warm community. The music was right on the spot for me, being spirituals sung in a blues style.

I was also struck by the sheer decency of the people of this small suburban church. Their neighbourhood is one of the many decimated by Hurricane Katrina over 2 years ago. The system has failed them so badly that most have not been able to move home yet. 6500 people lived in this neighbourhood pre-Katrina, but only 150 have been able to move back. Some haven't even been able to return to New Orleans, and those that have are scattered around the city and commute across town to worship at what used to be their neighbourhood church. Layer in that this is a poor neighbourhood, originally built to house the low wage workers for the nearby port. Add in that most people in this community are African-American, whose ancestors would have come to America as slaves. And yet, they couldn't have been more welcoming and hospitable to a white guy who turned up from the other side of the world.

The church building is situated in the Carver neighbourhood of New Orleans, but they also serve the Desire neighbourhood (as in "A Street Car Named Desire").

By coincidence (?), at my own church a week ago we had opportunity to share how we have personally experienced the closeness of God (in the context of the "God Is Closer Than You Think" series). The video below is a recording of my contribution set to photos from my trip to New Orleans.

Thank you Carver Desire Baptist Church for that special time we spent worshiping God together a few Sundays ago. You will remain in my ongoing prayers as you rebuild your community under the leadership of Paster James Willis.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• christianity
• new
• orleans
• travel