Monthly Archives: March 2006

Blogging New Orleans 2

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We arrived in New Orleans on Saturday night, March 4th and on Sunday morning we went to my former church. When I lived in New Orleans I volunteered as the collegiate ministry director for First Baptist Church New Orleans. It was great to return and see everyone that I had built relationships with over those two years that I lived in New Orleans. Along with my team, I heard an incredible sermon from Dr. Crosby. He has become the go to guy for a lot of the disaster relief that is happening in the city right now. It was inspiring to hear his perspective and to hear his humility as he mentioned how he felt like a cork floating along in the river of God’s grace (or favor…I don’t remember the exact quote, but both work). He mentioned how people all over the world are praying for the city of New Orleans and how the faith community around the country has poured out an overwhelming majority of the relief work. People are coming to Christ as a result of the love and help that has been offered by believers and God has blessed Dr. Crosby and people like Inman Houston and others that I remember from New Orleans with an overabundance of His favor. He is using them in mighty ways and I respect them for their faithfulness to be used by God in the midst of such devastation and tragedy.

As I heard Dr. Crosby speak, I remembered how I had prayed that God would awaken the city of New Orleans to His glory. For two years, I lived in total frustration at the debauchery and filth that surrounded me when I lived there. It was amazing to hear how God could miraculously use the devastation of a flood to cause people to turn to Him. I don’t know WHY God would allow something like Katrina to happen to New Orleans and I won’t admit that it was for judgment or for purification or anything like that. All I know is that God has used it to awaken the city of New Orleans to the glory of God and to the fellowship of His church. Not because I prayed it, but because it is His will.

For a couple of minutes, sitting on a pew again in the South, I was upset with God for not allowing me to suffer through the tragedy of Katrina and being used as his vessel to bring glory to Him as a result. I was envious of all of my friends there in New Orleans who are doing such incredible things for God there. I prayed so hard, but God didn’t consider me worthy to be a part of the restoration of the city that I was so burdened for.

However (and that’s a big however), I realized that the burden God has placed in my heart for the city of Boston is infinitely stronger than my burden for New Orleans ever was, and I cared greatly for that city. I remembered that I have also been praying that God would awaken the people of Boston to His glory and His will. Please don’t think that I hope for tragedy or suffering. God is accomplishing great things in New Orleans in the aftermath of a great tragedy, but that doesn’t mean the same will happen in Boston. And I’m certainly not praying for that specifically. I am praying that God will accomplish great things and awaken our city in whatever way that brings the most glory to Him. If that’s through one person being faithful to sharing their faith with another, and living every day for the cause of Christ, and denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following Jesus, then I want to be that person and I want to encourage others to do the same. I want God to restore Boston to Himself one person at a time if that’s His will or to do something huge. All I know is that my prayer for God would be glorified in this city and that people would be awakened to His presence WILL BE ANSWERED, not because it’s my will, but because it’s His will.

It will be accomplished and I am grateful that God has brought me to THIS city to be a part of what He is doing here. Thousands of people are praying for New Orleans and thousands more are awakened to His presence and I will not rest until the same happens in Boston. It won’t be my efforts that restore the glory of God in this city, it will be God’s glory invading our lives that will bring us to our knees again.

Blogging New Orleans

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I have been in the land where Sunkist’s are available in every gas station and where Chick-fil-A’s and Super Walmart’s are on every corner. However, the South is also the land of hand dryers versus towel dispensers in every gas station, and the ubiquitous, meaningless church signs on every corner that say something like, “Do you spell your best friend ‘d-o-g’ or ‘g-o-d?’”, and where “all y’all” is in almost everyone’s vocabulary.

Anyway, I just got back from doing disaster relief in New Orleans with a team of eleven from my church.

Unbelievable.

Eye-opening.

Devastating.

I will write a couple of posts about it over the next couple of days as well as some current stuff when I get a chance, but here are a couple of pictures to get you started. Just remember when you see these pictures that we are Katrina + seven months or so and it is still devastating there. Pray for New Orleans.

Ash Wednesday

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Two years ago on Ash Wednesday I spent the day fasting because I was hoping to determine what God was doing in my life. I did not even know that Boston was on the horizon at that time. However, God had been placing in my heart over the weeks prior to Ash Wednesday a desire for four different things: missions, pastoral ministry, collegiate ministry, and church planting. I remember going to see the Passion of the Christ with a group of friends that night in New Orleans.

Several months prior to that day, I had received an email from TJ Odom saying that he thought it would be cool if I could move up to Boston to help him with a church plant that he was working with. It wasn’t God’s timing and I didn’t feel led at the time to move to Boston and so I emailed back and said thanks but no thanks.

The weeks prior to Ash Wednesday, two years ago, however, God began closing a lot of doors that I wanted to be open. With a list of about ten options on a piece of paper, I began crossing off the doors that were closing. There were youth ministry positions and other church positions as well as various other ministry possibilities, but one after one I began crossing off the invalid options. Finally, I saw only one item left on the list. It was the possibility of moving to Boston. I had not heard from TJ for several months at that point and was pretty sure the opportunity in Boston was no more.

So, on Ash Wednesday, armed with the knowledge that God was calling me to missions, pastoral and collegiate ministry and church planting, but not knowing when any of those might be fulfilled in my life, I prayed and fasted that God would show me His will. The very next day I was thinking about calling TJ just to see what was going on in Boston. My phone rang and it said, “TJ Odom” on the caller I.D. I immediately thought, “Okay God, what are you up to?” I answered the phone and after talking for a minute or two, TJ said, “Nathan, I want you to pray about moving to Boston to co-pastor a collegiate church plant with me.

I never thought that the four passions that God was putting in my heart could be wrapped up in one sentence, but TJ, without knowing what God was teaching me, described the very ministry description that incorporated all four. I didn’t put all of this together until about an hour or two after his call, and so I told TJ that I would pray about this for a week and call him back and let him know what I was thinking. Within an hour, however, God brought back all of what He had been teaching me those previous months. I waited out the week just to make sure I was hearing God’s voice clearly (as if there can be any doubt in retrospect) and by July of that same year I had moved to Boston.

Today, Ash Wednesday, two years later, I am amazed at how God has taught me so much about His will, His timing, and His passion. He has given me a glimpse of His heart for the city of Boston and I am following Him. A lot of people have been visiting this blog recently because a guy here in Boston has a blog where he has ranted against all the church planters who are moving to Boston “to save our heathen souls”. I can only say that I will go wherever my God leads me. There is no question that God led me to Boston. I can’t speak for all the other church planters moving to the area, but there are people that need to know Jesus in every city and in every country. I don’t know why God calls some to certain areas, but I don’t have to know. I can only speak for myself when I say that I don’t condemn Bostonians. I have been given a message to share, a context in which to share it, and a glimpse of what God sees in Boston and I’m grateful that He brought me here to do His work. I want others to experience the leadership of the Spirit and the joy of the Lord that I have experienced in my journey to Boston. My motivation is not to save the heathen, my motivation is to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. If that is offensive to anyone, that’s their problem, not mine.

Boston (42° 21′ , -71° 7′)