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Volunteers in New Orleans to show that ‘Love Never Fails’


NEW ORLEANS (BP)–A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, post-traumatic stress disorder still abounds among its victims, youth evangelist Chris Lange says.

“They’re suffering whether they know it or not,” said Lange, who has spent much of his time based in New Orleans since Katrina’s onslaught in August 2005. “You have a million people who all exhibit some of the symptoms. They’ve experienced a traumatic loss and they think about it daily. They have trouble sleeping and getting past it. Many are lonely and depressed. People are stressed. Some are volatile.

“If that doesn’t say, ‘Go door to door and tell people about Jesus,’ I don’t know what does.”

Lange is preparing to do just that. He is the organizer of a concerted missions endeavor named “Love Never Fails” that will draw thousands of young people to the city to assist with evangelism. Approximately 100 churches from across the South are working together on the mission trip, which will include neighborhood fellowships, door-to-door evangelism, evening concerts, rebuilding and various other projects from July 7-28, 2007.

Lange, who had begun planning an outreach in New Orleans even before Katrina’s onslaught, said he and other organizers originally wanted to enlist 500 participating churches, but “Katrina changed our approach.”

“We just don’t have that much housing left in the city,” Lange said. He is hopeful that more than 200 churches will participate, noting, “We could house up to 5,000 people at this point.”

More than 40 churches in the New Orleans area also are participating in the citywide mission, including Franklin Avenue Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, to provide housing and logistical support for the incoming volunteers.

Fred Luter, pastor of the Franklin Avenue, which was heavily damaged by Katrina, said Love Never Fails will provide some much-needed spiritual care to the city’s residents.

“Since Hurricane Katrina there has been such a void in New Orleans -– a spiritual void, housing void, neighborhood void and a financial void. Love Never Fails will bring people and projects to New Orleans to fill those voids,” Luter told Baptist Press.

Johnny Derouen, professor of youth ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, also is assisting in the event. A Louisiana native, Derouen said he continues to have a heart for his home state and wants to be a part of the rebuilding. He also said it is particularly important for churches to help students learn about missions in a context like New Orleans by having them put their hands to the plow.

“The city has a huge rebuilding job on their hands and students are usually more than willing to help,” Derouen said. “Adding thousands of students who are able and willing to do their part will speed up the process and provide encouragement to those who feel forgotten. And spreading the message of Jesus Christ adds an eternal aspect to the rebuilding process. In other words, let’s go beyond just rebuilding physically to rebuilding the heart also.”

Speakers at the evening worship sessions will include Gordon Banks, a former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver who now is senior associate pastor of the Covenant Church in Dallas; David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist New Orleans; and Dallas-based evangelist Jon Randles.

“When you pool resources, you learn that you are a piece and not the puzzle,” Lange said. Involving people in his ministry is something Lange said he learned from his pastor in Las Vegas, Nev.

“Hoyt Savage at Foothills Baptist Church said to me once, ‘If you will try to get others involved in what you’re doing, then you will see more people participate.’ We’d like to see a few hundred thousand people ministered to through this. We will have thousands going door to door and ministering.”

Lange’s heart for the ministry of evangelism began long before he attended Southwestern Seminary. Originally from California, Lange’s family moved to Las Vegas when he was 9 years old. Las Vegas has one of the largest unchurched populations in the country, and Lange said he counts it a privilege to have grown up in an area where there were fewer Christians.

“God took me out of California so I could get to know Him in Las Vegas,” Lange said. “Then I was able to see what a major city full of lost people was like. And now he’s got me in New Orleans, another major city filled with people who need to know Christ. Most guys who attend seminary don’t have that experience of being in a city like that, where most of the people don’t have a personal relationship with God.”

It was in Las Vegas that Lange also met Jon Randles, one of the key participants in the New Orleans effort. Randles told Baptist Press that Lange was then a “young high school student on fire for his faith and for evangelism.”

Today, that fire for evangelism has grown into a vision for the entire city of New Orleans. Lange has spent the past six months organizing the Love Never Fails mission in New Orleans, creating a platform for a missions experience that, while primarily geared to students, is open to anyone else with a heart for the city.

“I want everyone to be a part of this -– young and old alike,” Lange said. “The major benefit I see in this is simple. Imagine that you come home one day and all your clothes, your food, your cars and pictures are gone. And it’s not just you. It’s you and everyone else. That’s where New Orleans is right now. They are still trying to rebuild. They need help and we’re going to help both physically and spiritually.”
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The deadline for registering church groups for Love Never Fails is March 1, 2007. Information about costs or other facets of the outreach can be accessed at www.missionloveneverfails.com or by calling 817-808-2344.

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  • Gregory Tomlin