The Levees and Church Leadership Failed The People Of New Orleans

Online, October 17, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Hurricane Katrina blew through New Orleans with a wind that revealed years of neglect, poverty, and exploitation. The images from CNN are renewed annually as the nation pauses every August 29th to remember the worst man-made disaster in the history of this country. The investigations into what caused the flooding in the Lower 9th Ward is now fully completed but the one question that anyone has yet to answer is where was church leadership before and after Hurricane Katrina?

For this reason the Preacher Bureau of Investigations ( www.pimppreacher.com) has conducted a review of the failures of church leadership in New Orleans, prior to Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans is the home office of Greater St. Stephens Full Gospel Baptist Church, one of the largest congregations in the United States. Greater St. Stephens Changing a Generation television ministry would always boast that it was one church in three locations across the City of New Orleans. The Pastor of Greater St. Stephens, Bishop Paul S. Morton is also the presiding Bishop of the International Full Gospel Fellowship, based out of New Orleans.

Long before there was Bishop TD Jakes, Creflo D ollar, Juanita Bynum, Paula White, or even Bishop Eddie Long, there was Bishop Paul S. Morton. As a matter of fact, it is also safe to say that the title "Bishop" that exists at the front of Eddie Long's name wouldn't have been possible without Bishop Paul S. Morton. Long before TD Jakes reached the level of Mega Church Pastor, Bishop Paul S. Morton had already been there and done that, but under the radar.

Simply judging from the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina one could get the impression that the entire city was dirt poor, and un-educated, but those inside of the city are fully aware of the wealthy elitist society that exists within the African American Church.

Prior to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina the boisterous preachers, priests and pastors that saturated gospel television in New Orleans mysteriously fell hoarse as the epic storm approached. Bishop Morton was one of the wealthiest Pastors in New Orleans who could have done more to help the improvised church members who found themselves standing outside of the Louisiana Superdome. Pastor Antoine Barriere, Darryl Brister, R. C. Blakes Jr., and Pastor Lester Love all dropped the ball on their members.
The debris field in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina also included church vans with the pastors name still boldly screen printed on the sides. Fleets of vans used to transport the elderly to and from services were discovered amongst the wreckage of flooded vehicles.

When Pastors in New Orleans evacuated as the storm approached, their accumulation of tithes and offerings evacuated with them. Many Pastors only offered prayer as the stormed approached, when many of their members actually needed a ride out of town. The real tragedy was many of the large Cadillac Escalades that have come to symbolize the carriages of Pastors were only filled with their immediate families, as they headed to higher ground.

Weeks following the storm, President Bush appointed Bishop TD Jakes to oversee a panel with President George Bush Sr. that would provide assistance for congregations affected by Hurricane Katrina. The first meeting was held at the Sheraton Hotel (Downtown New Orleans) and the conference totally captured the culture of the tithed addicted preachers that had infested New Orleans. As Bishop TD Jakes took questions from an open microphone in the middle of the floor, you could almost see his disgust as every preacher that stepped forward to ask a question only seemed concerned about themselves and their own families.

Bishop TD Jakes disgust was warranted because only days earlier The Potters House in Dallas was responsible for practically empting out a shelter in Dallas almost overnight. The Potter House was instrumental in finding displaced residents from New Orleans: shelter, furniture, food, clothing, schools, and even toys for the children of New Orleans, with no assistance from the wealthy Pastors who evacuated to the Dallas area.

Instead of opening the vaults of the storages that held the Tithes (Malachi 3:10), wealthy Pastors simply followed the heards as any carnivore would do. Many of the Pastors from New Orleans relocated to areas that had the highest concentration of their members as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Houston, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Dallas, and Memphis now have fulltime ministries that once existed in New Orleans. Bishop Paul Morton who reopened his church in New Orleans once a large portion of the population returned, now has one church in two states, Louisiana and Georgia.

Pastors like R. C. Blakes Jr. (who is the current air to the throne of the New Home Full Gospel multimillion dollar conglomerate) is now based out of Houston after deciding to abandon the members who returned to New Orleans East. Bishop Darryl Brister (another spiritual son of Bishop Paul Morton) also relocated his church to Houston.

A spokesperson with the PBI stated that it "It appears as if the wealthiest of Pastors packed up their operations and followed the tides to Houston and Atlanta."
What happened in New Orleans was a catastrophic failure on so many levels, but least we forget that Church leadership in New Orleans also failed.

• Failed to help elderly members get out of the city.

• Failed to pay for hotels and food that their members so desperately needed.

• Failed to donate money to help members rebuild their homes out of the wealth of the church.

• Failed to come back to New Orleans due to the lack of profitability.

But all was not lost because months after Katrina New Orleans experienced a migration of congregations from all over the country who established aid centers all over the city. All over New Orleans you could find Southern Baptist and Pentecostal Congregations (many of them predominantly white congregations) rolling up their sleeves and gutting and repairing flooded homes of the residents who were still in FEMA Trailers.

For this reason, and their love for their fellow man, Church leadership as a whole escaped a failing grade.

At some point Pastors will have to rise up and live up to the true meaning of their calling which just happens to be - Serving!
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