Baton Rouge Community Center

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has become home to more than a hundred thousand New Orleans evacuees. Federal temporary housing has created new communities, where residents must seek employment and enroll children in schools. With funds provided by CAMA, property was purchased to establish a community center that will integrate social and spiritual ministries, offering a variety of services. Alliance pastor Randy Knighton, director of Baton Rouge Community Center, says, “We are training people with entry level skills in computer networking, job applications, and resumés. As we provide for their physical needs, we will minister to their spiritual needs.”  
 
 
Much Work to Do 
In New Orleans, The Alliance, along with local churches and well-known national churches such as Calvary Chapel and Willow Creek, are working to restore people’s homes and lives. Samaritan’s Purse and World Relief are working with Willie Neudahl, pastor of Alliance Bible Fellowship. “God has placed [The Alliance] here for this,” says Frank Smith, director for hurricane relief from the Southern District, “but Samaritan’s Purse is helping us put together a plan that we are excited about.” 
 
Months after the disaster, Pastor Neudahl in New Orleans is still in the thick of the clean up, helping people rid their homes of ankle-deep mud and water-logged sheet rock. In some cases, houses had to be demolished. But out of the mire, hope has come to many who are being helped by CAMA and Alliance workers like Neudahl. Recently, an elderly couple experienced Christ’s love when Neudahl helped them. The people were so moved by his unsolicited kindness that they began to ask questions. Neudahl shared the gospel with the husband and wife, and they asked Jesus into there hearts. 
 
Neudahl and other Alliance volunteers will be in the once-grand city until it is rebuilt. Eventually, they are planning to open a community center similar to the one in Baton Rouge.  
 
“At one community meeting,” Smith says, “residents commented on the aid they had received, saying, ‘Every group failed except for the church. It is the one group that has been consistently helpful in the rebuilding process.’” Knighton adds, “That’s one of the beauties of this [effort]. The church is the major organization that has made an impact on the whole Gulf Coast.”

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