Posted: 6/13/06
New Orleans Seminary president
thanks SBC for aiding recovery
By John Pierce
Baptists Today
| SBC Annual Meeting |
GREENSBORO, N.C.—“One moment in time can change everything,” New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley said, reporting to the Southern Baptist Convention for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit last year, forcing a campus evacuation and causing about $38 million damage to the seminary.
Kelley expressed deep appreciation to the convention for helping the seminary community recover, saying, “We truly are one family in Jesus Christ.”
Other SBC agencies and institutions aided New Orleans Seminary during their crisis, said Kelley. Southeastern Seminary faculty and staff gave a “love offering” of $150,000, the International Mission Board sent $1.2 million, LifeWay Christian Resources donated $750,000 and GuideStone Financial Resources provided financial assistance to affected faculty and students, he noted.
“Thank you, Southern Baptists, for the way you ministered to our seminary family,” said Kelley.
Katrina significantly damaged student and faculty housing, and the school’s repair bill may top $38 million. But God spared the campus from the more significant damage experienced by two nearby universities, he reported, as well as from widespread looting in the area.
“God himself secured that campus from looters,” said Kelley, telling of large trees that fell across the major campus entrances.
Although they experienced damage to their personal property, Kelley said faculty and staff gathered at their sister seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, soon after the storm to “reinvent our entire curriculum.” The result, he said, was a continuation of the education program for many scattered students.
An earlier report to the SBC Executive Committee indicated the seminary granted 241 certificates and degrees May 13 to those now known as the “Katrina class.”
Churches are not leaving New Orleans despite the challenges of the last year, and neither will the Southern Baptist seminary there, he said.
“New Orleans Seminary is open for business … and, come August, we are going to be home once again,” he promised.
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