New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to flee now. "You need to be scared," Nagin said as Hurricane Gustav roared into the Gulf of Mexico with 150 mph sustained winds. "And you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now."
Gustov has passed Cuba, is at category 4, and is forecast to top out at 155 MPH winds tomorrow. Category5 the top of the Safir Simpson scale is >155 MPH winds. This is a Katrina like storm ironically landing near the same place as Katrina.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Increase Predicted in Gustov's Strength
Gustov is now predicted to brush Category 5 status before coming ashore in Louisiana. Keep those prayers coming!
St. Barnard Project Team Update
Thanks for the note and your concern. We have been busily preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We spent the past two days removing tools from our clients' homes, taking yard debris to the dump, and making sure that materials are away from the windows. In the office we moved everything of value upstairs. We've got a great staff and they were cranking it out for the past two days.
We are about to head north either to Atlanta or closer if we can find a hotel room. We've secured our home, packed up our stuff and sedated the cats.
Please thank everyone for their concern and let then know that we're doing ok. We'll be in touch and let you know when we have nore info.
Take care,
Liz
We are about to head north either to Atlanta or closer if we can find a hotel room. We've secured our home, packed up our stuff and sedated the cats.
Please thank everyone for their concern and let then know that we're doing ok. We'll be in touch and let you know when we have nore info.
Take care,
Liz
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Letter from The Gathering church plant in Chalmette
Hello friends,
Thanks for your calls, emails, and texts today- I’ve heard from people in multiple states and we are encouraged by this.
I meant to write earlier in the week to share a moment with you all- a pause moment, I guess you could call it. Sunday evening at the Gathering, there were 3 guys visiting. One of them, age 50, had been once before. So matt is teaching out of Matthew and asks us to look at a verse in the book of Malachi. Every time we jumped to a new scripture he leaned over to look at which way I was flipping in my Bible, asking "what page are we on?" "Where’s that book" etc.
I just write to share the "pause" in this story. It wasn't an earth shattering moment, I didn’t break down in tears, but I paused at what God was showing me. I don’t want to take the Holy Scriptures for granted. I want to crave and desire the message and voice that God uses His Word for. And I want to "pause" more often so that I see what God is doing around us, like bringing a rough guy, 50 years old, to look at Jesus healing people in the Gospels. I thank Him and praise Him for slowing me down in that moment.
That guy came and painted with me all day Monday- he doesn’t have a job right now, but the relationship continues. Thanks for "pausing" to read this- I hope your days are stopped periodically so you can hear and see the Holy Spirit at work. Forgive me, God for skipping those moments all too often.
Regarding the impending storm, our team had planned to get away on a retreat this weekend. In fact, Mrs. Johnson came down to watch Everly at our house. So--we have accommodations reserved about 3 hours northwest of Chalmette, a bit past Baton Rouge.
What are we doing? We are praying. We are asking God to dissipate this storm and keep everyone from harm.
We are watching and gathering info- I feel like such a rookie here! I asked several neighbors what they were doing and we are obviously paying attention to the news, etc.
What are we not doing? We, as the Gathering team will not stay to weather the storm. We have not overstocked our cabinets, etc and etc. People were at Home Depot and the grocery buying, well, you can imagine. But rightfully so- we try to put ourselves in their shoes- I have to respect their experience and the grief they have-- is it ironic that tomorrow is the 3 yr anniversary of Katrina?? We are headed to a memorial breakfast in our community and then heading to the retreat facility.
So I hope I’ve answered your questions- Shauna and I put our patio stuff in our garage this afternoon. We’re trying to be wise and good stewards. We are getting together at 8pm central time tonight to discuss as a team and pray. I’ve heard folks in Indy will be joining us, which is 9 eastern. I will try to email any updates tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks, again, for asking and thinking of us. In all things, whether rebuilding homes, hosting Bible studies, or driving in heavy traffic out of here, may God be praised and receive any and all glory from our lives. Amen.
Aaron Johnson
The Gathering
Chalmette, LA
504 610 7779
Thanks for your calls, emails, and texts today- I’ve heard from people in multiple states and we are encouraged by this.
I meant to write earlier in the week to share a moment with you all- a pause moment, I guess you could call it. Sunday evening at the Gathering, there were 3 guys visiting. One of them, age 50, had been once before. So matt is teaching out of Matthew and asks us to look at a verse in the book of Malachi. Every time we jumped to a new scripture he leaned over to look at which way I was flipping in my Bible, asking "what page are we on?" "Where’s that book" etc.
I just write to share the "pause" in this story. It wasn't an earth shattering moment, I didn’t break down in tears, but I paused at what God was showing me. I don’t want to take the Holy Scriptures for granted. I want to crave and desire the message and voice that God uses His Word for. And I want to "pause" more often so that I see what God is doing around us, like bringing a rough guy, 50 years old, to look at Jesus healing people in the Gospels. I thank Him and praise Him for slowing me down in that moment.
That guy came and painted with me all day Monday- he doesn’t have a job right now, but the relationship continues. Thanks for "pausing" to read this- I hope your days are stopped periodically so you can hear and see the Holy Spirit at work. Forgive me, God for skipping those moments all too often.
Regarding the impending storm, our team had planned to get away on a retreat this weekend. In fact, Mrs. Johnson came down to watch Everly at our house. So--we have accommodations reserved about 3 hours northwest of Chalmette, a bit past Baton Rouge.
What are we doing? We are praying. We are asking God to dissipate this storm and keep everyone from harm.
We are watching and gathering info- I feel like such a rookie here! I asked several neighbors what they were doing and we are obviously paying attention to the news, etc.
What are we not doing? We, as the Gathering team will not stay to weather the storm. We have not overstocked our cabinets, etc and etc. People were at Home Depot and the grocery buying, well, you can imagine. But rightfully so- we try to put ourselves in their shoes- I have to respect their experience and the grief they have-- is it ironic that tomorrow is the 3 yr anniversary of Katrina?? We are headed to a memorial breakfast in our community and then heading to the retreat facility.
So I hope I’ve answered your questions- Shauna and I put our patio stuff in our garage this afternoon. We’re trying to be wise and good stewards. We are getting together at 8pm central time tonight to discuss as a team and pray. I’ve heard folks in Indy will be joining us, which is 9 eastern. I will try to email any updates tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks, again, for asking and thinking of us. In all things, whether rebuilding homes, hosting Bible studies, or driving in heavy traffic out of here, may God be praised and receive any and all glory from our lives. Amen.
Aaron Johnson
The Gathering
Chalmette, LA
504 610 7779
From Daphne German
We worked with Daphne in Bayou LaBatre last spring and summer. That small town is still recovering from the last several hurricanes and doesn't have room for this one.
"Remember us as the path looks the same and you know had bad we were hit. God bless
Daphne"
"Remember us as the path looks the same and you know had bad we were hit. God bless
Daphne"
Letter from Brendan Hendrix
OK my friends here we are at the 3 year anniversary of Katrina and it looks like she may have a brother heading our way. I am just asking that you all keep us in prayer. the New Orleans area really can't take another hit from a storm like that yet. I am presently located 45 minutes northwest of Mandeville/Slidell area where i would like to think I am in a safe area.
For those of you that know me yes I am making calls to see what kind of help will be set up in case of landfall. You know I cant get away from it! I will be communicating with john mcguire of Servants Unite. In the event we lose power or I get too busy, you can check out his web site for updates.
Thank you all for your help in the past and prayers now!
Brendan
For those of you that know me yes I am making calls to see what kind of help will be set up in case of landfall. You know I cant get away from it! I will be communicating with john mcguire of Servants Unite. In the event we lose power or I get too busy, you can check out his web site for updates.
Thank you all for your help in the past and prayers now!
Brendan
Letter from Joy Fellowship
I'm receiving pre-emptive requests for prayer and assistance if it turns out to be needed today. Also notes on here's what we are doing to prepare for the storm. I'll share them here as they come in.
Servants Unite Team 7 worked with Joy Fellowhip in January 2006. You can find blog entries here.
Joy Fellowship Church
1510 Lindberg Dr. Slidell, LA
985-781-9777
My Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe that it has been three years since Hurricane Katrina made its destructive way through Southeast Louisiana. And through all of the bad things that that storm brought, Leslie and I never cease to thank God for all of the wonderful friends such as yourself that the Lord brought our way as a result of the relief work that God himself anointed our little church to embark upon. We still minister to hundreds every week both here and at our church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Now we find ourselves in the position of coming to you again to be ready to help. As Hurricane Gustav churns in the Caribbean Sea, the Latest computer models as of this morning (8/28/08) shows this storm with a good probability of making landfall somewhere along the Southeastern Louisiana coastline as a category three at a minimum. Like California has its earthquakes, and Asia has its tsunamis, our Achilles heel is tropical storms. While we are wearing out the knees of our trousers praying that this thing will go somewhere harmless and die, we must also be ready to do what God called us to do; be a responder who carries the hope of God.
I have already been in touch with several international disaster organizations including the Salvation Army who have promised us their full support, but we also need you, the local church. Please begin to pray with us that we will have the finances and physical support to help those who cannot help themselves.
An immediate need that we will be having is that we have already been notified that a mandatory evacuation will be ordered for our area, thus forcing us to cancel our services for Sunday. Our church will have no income to operate for possibly a week or better. Couple that with the additional expense of evacuation that those in our body will incur and you can see that our church will be in a fix financially, right out the chutes. I am writing you now because should this system come close to us, our communications will be knocked out. If that happens, just assume we need help and organize teams. Please pray and seek the Lord for whatever you can do to assist us in this time. We will be thankful for whatever you can offer us.
Blessings be yours,
Pastor Larry Roques
Senior Pastor
Joy Fellowship church
Slidell/New Orleans
Senior Pastor Larry Roques: 985-768-8134
Youth Pastor Joe Badon: 504-287-5731
www.joyfellowshipchurch.com
Servants Unite Team 7 worked with Joy Fellowhip in January 2006. You can find blog entries here.
Joy Fellowship Church
1510 Lindberg Dr. Slidell, LA
985-781-9777
My Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe that it has been three years since Hurricane Katrina made its destructive way through Southeast Louisiana. And through all of the bad things that that storm brought, Leslie and I never cease to thank God for all of the wonderful friends such as yourself that the Lord brought our way as a result of the relief work that God himself anointed our little church to embark upon. We still minister to hundreds every week both here and at our church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Now we find ourselves in the position of coming to you again to be ready to help. As Hurricane Gustav churns in the Caribbean Sea, the Latest computer models as of this morning (8/28/08) shows this storm with a good probability of making landfall somewhere along the Southeastern Louisiana coastline as a category three at a minimum. Like California has its earthquakes, and Asia has its tsunamis, our Achilles heel is tropical storms. While we are wearing out the knees of our trousers praying that this thing will go somewhere harmless and die, we must also be ready to do what God called us to do; be a responder who carries the hope of God.
I have already been in touch with several international disaster organizations including the Salvation Army who have promised us their full support, but we also need you, the local church. Please begin to pray with us that we will have the finances and physical support to help those who cannot help themselves.
An immediate need that we will be having is that we have already been notified that a mandatory evacuation will be ordered for our area, thus forcing us to cancel our services for Sunday. Our church will have no income to operate for possibly a week or better. Couple that with the additional expense of evacuation that those in our body will incur and you can see that our church will be in a fix financially, right out the chutes. I am writing you now because should this system come close to us, our communications will be knocked out. If that happens, just assume we need help and organize teams. Please pray and seek the Lord for whatever you can do to assist us in this time. We will be thankful for whatever you can offer us.
Blessings be yours,
Pastor Larry Roques
Senior Pastor
Joy Fellowship church
Slidell/New Orleans
Senior Pastor Larry Roques: 985-768-8134
Youth Pastor Joe Badon: 504-287-5731
www.joyfellowshipchurch.com
And now there are two
An area of development yesterday became tropical depression 8 overnight and is now tropical storm Hanna
It is forecast to remain a category 1 hurricane traveling east of Florida and into South Carolina over the next week.
Pray hard and often and remember the scout motto, "be prepared"! It might be a busy few weeks for us.
It is forecast to remain a category 1 hurricane traveling east of Florida and into South Carolina over the next week.
Pray hard and often and remember the scout motto, "be prepared"! It might be a busy few weeks for us.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Trouble Brewing
I've been holding off for a week on an update waiting to see what happens. First it was TS Fay which dumped tons of rain on most of Florida.
There hasn't been a relief effort set up in Florida that I've found needing out of state volunteers so I've been waiting to see what turns up.
I'm sure you are following along as it made the main stream news today, but in case you missed it, this thing is not going where we would hope.
You can track progress with me at the National Hurricane Center site. Gustav is expected by the majority of computer models to hit New Orleans as a major hurricane Monday night; just past the three year anniversary of Katrina on Friday. The gulf is hot and winds are light leading the the expected development after the storm passes Cuba.
Our first job here is prayers for our new friends we've been helping in New Orleans and along the gulf coast. We want to be fervently asking God to block this storm's progress and development and spare the severe suffering Katrina caused happening again. Please post a comment to this post if you've done so to let them know we are.
Our second job is to get prepared. Immediate storm relief will involve collecting the right stuff packed the right way and shipped cooperatively and efficiently into a receiving organization who can distribute it out of the truck. This will require churches and volunteers to act as central collection facilities and a couple people who are good at managing logistics to organize the shipping. Please email me immediately if you can fill this role. If collection is required I will publish inventory requests for food, personal care, baby care, and cleaning kits.
Our parallel task is to start making plans for volunteers to perform immediate relief. Services will be chainsaw, distribution of supplies, counseling, first aid, and flood cleanup. This will require volunteer team leads, vehicles, tools, and potentially camping gear.
Both stuff and people will cost $$$$$ to get where they are going. Please discuss with your church leaders the possibility of a special collection or one time missions gift to Servants Unite to cover these expenses so they will not be required of the volunteers and donors of supplies. Do that this Sunday if not before so we are as prepared as we can be.
Communications contacts for any effort like this will begin with John McGuire (614-404-8610) and Melinda McGuire (614-523-3996). As others end up managing portions of the operation their contact information will be distributed here and on a special web page for the new effort.
Since Katrina three years ago, we've provided 2500 man weeks of labor in Louisiana, Alabama, Ohio, and Iowa. 400 of those were in the first 4 trips to Mandeville. All of you have had an awesome heart to serve.
We may be called in the next few days to rise up again and put our hard earned experience to use making a new effort even more effective and glorifying our Lord even more than we have. Please be in prayer for what your role will be when that time comes.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
There hasn't been a relief effort set up in Florida that I've found needing out of state volunteers so I've been waiting to see what turns up.
I'm sure you are following along as it made the main stream news today, but in case you missed it, this thing is not going where we would hope.
You can track progress with me at the National Hurricane Center site. Gustav is expected by the majority of computer models to hit New Orleans as a major hurricane Monday night; just past the three year anniversary of Katrina on Friday. The gulf is hot and winds are light leading the the expected development after the storm passes Cuba.
Our first job here is prayers for our new friends we've been helping in New Orleans and along the gulf coast. We want to be fervently asking God to block this storm's progress and development and spare the severe suffering Katrina caused happening again. Please post a comment to this post if you've done so to let them know we are.
Our second job is to get prepared. Immediate storm relief will involve collecting the right stuff packed the right way and shipped cooperatively and efficiently into a receiving organization who can distribute it out of the truck. This will require churches and volunteers to act as central collection facilities and a couple people who are good at managing logistics to organize the shipping. Please email me immediately if you can fill this role. If collection is required I will publish inventory requests for food, personal care, baby care, and cleaning kits.
Our parallel task is to start making plans for volunteers to perform immediate relief. Services will be chainsaw, distribution of supplies, counseling, first aid, and flood cleanup. This will require volunteer team leads, vehicles, tools, and potentially camping gear.
Both stuff and people will cost $$$$$ to get where they are going. Please discuss with your church leaders the possibility of a special collection or one time missions gift to Servants Unite to cover these expenses so they will not be required of the volunteers and donors of supplies. Do that this Sunday if not before so we are as prepared as we can be.
Communications contacts for any effort like this will begin with John McGuire (614-404-8610) and Melinda McGuire (614-523-3996). As others end up managing portions of the operation their contact information will be distributed here and on a special web page for the new effort.
Since Katrina three years ago, we've provided 2500 man weeks of labor in Louisiana, Alabama, Ohio, and Iowa. 400 of those were in the first 4 trips to Mandeville. All of you have had an awesome heart to serve.
We may be called in the next few days to rise up again and put our hard earned experience to use making a new effort even more effective and glorifying our Lord even more than we have. Please be in prayer for what your role will be when that time comes.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
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