Duncanville ministry an advertisement for love of Jesus

Posted: 9/16/05

Duncanville ministry an
advertisement for love of Jesus

By George Henson

Staff Writer

DUNCANVILLE–After the levee broke in New Orleans, the Curry family decided to strike out for the Superdome. Soon the water was chest deep for the mother and her husband as they carried their young children to keep their heads above water.

They made it to a highway overpass, where they broiled for hours with no food or water to sustain themselves or their children.

The real horror didn't come until they actually reached the Superdome. There they were afraid to sleep because of the violence and depredation going on around them. When the buses came, twice they were at the beginning of lines, only to flee the queue out of fear for their children's safety.

When they finally reached a bus, they were told they were going to the Astrodome in Houston. Later, they heard they were rerouted to Reunion Arena in Dallas. And, finally, they were directed to a church in Duncanville.

It was not a happy moment on the bus, Ekeshia Curry recalled. “The whole bus was like, 'We've rode this bus all this time, and now they are going to take us to some little country church.' None of us had ever heard of Duncanville, but it sounded like the middle of nowhere,” she said.

Actually, Duncanville is a suburb on the south side of Dallas, and after only a few hours, Curry and the rest of the 89 people on the bus were glad to have been taken there.

“We had to walk through the river of hell to get to the gates of heaven,” Curry said of her ultimate destination.

That is exactly what Pastor Keith Brister wanted to hear.

“When that bus pulled into the parking lot, I knew God had blessed that bus full of people. Our people loved them before they even arrived,” he said. “I felt like God had prepared us to be a church that would accept anybody, and he had given us a special assignment to live that out.”

Brister said that while his church that averages about 450 in Sunday school has taken the lead in ministry, the effort has really been community wide, especially among members of many churches in the town of a little less than 40,000.

“I'm thrilled with the way the church has responded, and really the whole body of Christ in the community. I'm really excited because this didn't start when Katrina blew in, but five years ago when we as ministers starting meeting together to pray about how we could as a group make a difference in our city,” Brister said.

Brister had encouraged his church in a sermon just two weeks before the storm to go deeper in their efforts to reach unchurched people. The day before Katrina left her mark on New Orleans, Brister had been more specific about how that might happen–multihousing ministries, a language learning center and meeting the needs of underprivileged children.

Within days, all those ministries were to some degree going on within the church's gymnasium.

One of the expected outcomes of the ministries the church envisioned was a more racially and economically diverse church, and with the arrival of the families from New Orleans, “overnight, we became a church of diversity,” Brister said.

Many who arrived on the bus have expressed a desire to remain in Duncanville. And because of the relationships that have developed through ministry, that suits Brister fine.

“These people have not only come to our church as a temporary shelter, but also now have a place in our hearts and lives,” he said.

The ministry to the evacuees has been broad-based with hundreds helping.

“This has given us an opportunity to move from being a church that talks about being a missions-minded church to being a missions-doing church,” Brister said.

The church's ministry to the evacuees has caught the attention of the community. Many people unfamiliar with the church have brought by donations. Relationships with community leaders have deepened. Doctors have come to the church to dispense shots and other medical care. The local newspaper featured the church's ministry on its front page.

“What this has been is a big old advertisement throughout this town about the love of Jesus,” Brister said.