Lessons Learned From Katrina -- By: Charles S. Kelley, Jr.

Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 04:1 (Spring 2007)
Article: Lessons Learned From Katrina
Author: Charles S. Kelley, Jr.


Lessons Learned From Katrina*

Charles S. Kelley, Jr.

President, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Thank you so much and welcome to the graduation of the Katrina class of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

As we were in procession, one or two of our faculty happened to notice that I looked a little bit different than normal at this occasion. Please relax. I am starting the ceremony this way, but I will finish it in a cap and gown. We simply have to acknowledge the fact that this is not a typical graduation—that we are still under construction. It was about nine months ago that Hurricane Katrina blew ashore. After it passed the city by, the winds it created pushed water into the city, the levees broke, and 80% of the city of New Orleans was covered with water—the greatest natural disaster in the history of the United States. We don’t know yet all the things that it changed forever, but we do know that the lives of every one of us, as a part of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary family, were deeply affected. Those who were here on campus and studying at the time had to go through a period of unspeakable suffering. We must never minimize the fact that with all of our testimonies of God’s grace—and oh, do we have them—and with all that we’ve experienced of the wonderful providence of God in the midst of our sorrow, nevertheless, it has been a brutal year for this seminary family. Even those who were not in the strike zone, who were a part of our extension center system, and who were a part of this graduating class, were affected by the way your classes were delivered, by the people that you took in, by the families that you helped out. Truly Southern Baptists all over this nation reached out as they never have before, to embrace the city that care forgot, and to remind us that though care may have forgotten New Orleans, God never did, and it demonstrated that in such powerful ways. We have all been affected by this unspeakable tragedy. It gives me such incredible joy to be able to say after nine months of this experience. I feel safe in saying no one can show more of the love and grace of God, and more of His winsome joy, and more of His stubborn strength than you would find in this Katrina class of New Orleans Baptist Seminary and in the whole seminary family. I am grateful for the witness that you have been to a watching world.

We would not be here today, at all, if it were not for the efforts of a very special group of people. As you noticed when you came to campus, our main buildings, here at the front, were largely unaffected by the flooding. They had no floodwater in them, although there was some wind and rain damage in many of them. We took our hardest hit in...

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